The United States is urging the Group of Seven industrialized nations to provide $10 billion over the next decade to accelerate efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation in Russia, Reuters reported today (see GSN, May 3).

In an effort to secure nuclear materials vulnerable to terrorist groups, U.S. officials last month proposed a plan under which the United States would provide $10 billion for nonproliferation efforts if the rest of the G-7 provided a matching contribution over the next 10 years, according to Reuters.  Details are not complete yet.

U.S. officials want to announce the plan formally during the Group of Eight summit in Kananaskis, Canada, next month, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 14).

“There are lots of questions still hanging over this one, but the Americans are absolutely determined that an announcement be made in Kananaskis,” a diplomat said.

Of the G-7 countries, Germany and Canada support the plan, the United Kingdom and France like the idea but want more details and Italy and Japan have several concerns such as corruption in Russia and the cost, diplomats said.

“People feel there is enough money going to the Russians to fund nonproliferation efforts as it is, and they aren’t spending all of it.  If we give them even more, it won’t be that effective,” another G-7 diplomat said.

U.S. officials have also suggested G-7 countries forgive some Russian debt in return for Russian nonproliferation efforts.

The United States believes other G-7 countries are not contributing enough resources to nuclear nonproliferation programs in Russia, one official said.

“Everybody recognizes that, given the threat we have now of terrorists getting their hands on some of these weapons of mass destruction, that we really need to accelerate the programs.  The Bush administration believes this cannot be done unless we get more money into them,” the official said.

The plan might focus on decommissioning some Russian nuclear power stations and constructing a mixed-oxide plant to convert weapon-grade plutonium into fuel for civilian reactors (David Ljunggren, Reuters/Forbes, May 19).

Studies Urge Material Security

Meanwhile, two studies expected to be released today call on U.S. and Russian Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin to step up efforts to secure nuclear material, particularly at nuclear research reactor sites.  They call on the presidents to address the issue during their summit in Russia this week.

Harvard University’s Managing the Atom Project’s report and the Federation of American Scientists’ report identify civilian research reactors as one of the greatest unaddressed proliferation risks.  Universities often run the reactors, which often use or store weapon-grade uranium or plutonium.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, some former Soviet research reactors came under threat.  Abkhaz separatists overran one reactor and allegedly took two kilograms of highly enriched uranium, and scientists in Georgia report guarding a reactor with sticks and garden rakes, according to the Washington Post.  Few safeguards exist for such reactors.

Both the Harvard and FAS studies call on U.S. and Russian leaders to phase out using weapon-grade nuclear material at research reactors and replace the material with uranium that cannot be used in weapons.

The authors also call on the two presidents to take other measures to prevent the possibility terrorists could acquire such material.  They call for a dramatic increase in efforts to destroy or store tens of thousands of pounds of plutonium and uranium in the former Soviet Union.

Putin and Bush should each appoint an official to head efforts to improve nuclear security, said Matthew Bunn, co-author of the Harvard report.

The United States should also speed efforts to buy surplus Russian highly enriched uranium and convert it into fuel for Western commercial reactors, said Michael Levi, author of the FAS study.

The U.S. Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, designed to help safeguard and dismantle former Soviet weapons of mass destruction, has made “substantial” progress, Bunn said (see GSN, May 9).

“Terrorists appear to be working as hard as they can to get these materials,” he said.  “We need to be working as hard as we can to kept them from getting it” (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, May 20).

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