The U.S. Energy Department has selected two U.S. companies to help shut down three Russian plutonium production reactors, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, March 6).

Washington Group International and Raytheon Technical Services have been directed to build two coal-fired power plants near three nuclear reactors at Seversk and Zheleznogorsk in Siberia.

The reactors were built primarily to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, but they also produce energy for neighboring towns and cities, according to U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.  That energy production needs to be replaced before the nuclear reactors can be shut down, a move Abraham described as “critical.”

The coal-fired energy plants will take five years to build, after which the nuclear plants will be shuttered, the Journal reported.

The $466 million dollar award is intended to close down plants that are “considered to be among the highest risk reactors in the world,” according to the Energy Department (John Fialka, Wall Street Journal, May 28).

Russia will be responsible for dismantling the reactors, according to agreements signed in March (see GSN, March 12).  The plants produce enough plutonium to make two nuclear warheads every three days, Energy Daily reported today.

Russian officials have hesitated to close the reactors and lose jobs, while the U.S. Congress has been reluctant to pay for the replacement plants, according to Energy Daily.  Abraham has pushed the deal and Russia is ready to embrace the project, Energy Department officials said.

“The Russians want to shut these down as much as we do,” said Kenneth Baker, acting deputy administrator for nonproliferation in the National Nuclear Security Administration.  “They are just as scared as we are of terrorist attacks,” he added (George Lobsenz, Energy Daily, May 28).

Abraham told Russian Minister of Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyantsev that the contracts should be in place by the end of June.

“The selection of the contractors is another significant step in advancing the Bush administration’s nonproliferation programs,” Abraham said.  “Russia and the United States have enjoyed a good relationship on this program and we look forward to continued progress,” he added (Energy Department release, May 27).

Russia will also build a plant at Seversk to transform weapon-grade plutonium to mixed oxide fuel, Interfax reported Monday.

Construction on the $1 billion plant will begin in early 2005, according to Siberian Chemical Plant Director General Vladimir Shidlovsky (Interfax, May 26 in FBIS-SOV, May 26).

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