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U.S., Russia Reaffirm Plutonium Disposition Agreement
Russia and the United States have reaffirmed their pledge to each dispose of 34 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium, the U.S. Energy Department announced yesterday (see GSN, July 7). U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Director Sergei Kiriyenko signed a joint statement indicating that Moscow plans to begin using a BN-600 fast-neutron reactor to dispose of excess weapon-grade plutonium between 2010 and 2012. The United States, meanwhile, has scheduled construction of a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility to begin this fall. “This statement is a clear sign of our mutual commitment to keeping dangerous nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists,” Bodman said in a press release. “We have put in place a procedure for addressing remaining technical issues in the Russian program. We will continue to work with the Russians to ensure that this important nonproliferation project moves forward in both countries,” said Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (U.S. Energy Department release, July 13). One nonproliferation expert criticized the deal for allowing Moscow to use breeder reactors, which create more plutonium. “Plutonium disposition never was about disarmament and now even [the] nonproliferation justification seems to have evaporated,” said Tom Clements of Greenpeace (Greenpeace release, July 13).
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