Russia Agrees to Take Serbian Spent Fuel

Russia has agreed remove spent nuclear fuel from a dormant Serbian research reactor to prevent terrorists from acquiring material for radiological weapons, a Serbian official said yesterday (see GSN, July 27).

The agreement, signed last week at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s general conference in Vienna, calls for Russia to take possession of about 8,000 spent fuel rods from the reactor at Vinca, just outside Belgrade, said Serbian Science Minister Aleksandar Popovic.  The $10 million transfer would be completed by the end of 2008, he said.

The plan was hatched after the agency determined that the spent fuel was poorly secured.

“It’s almost like a candy store” for terrorists, agency official Mike Durst said earlier this year.

Similar concerns over weapon-usable fresh fuel at the facility prompted a multinational operation to transfer that material to Russia in 2002 (see GSN, Aug. 23, 2002; Pravda, Sept. 25).

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