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United Kingdom to Provide $20 Million to Aid Shutdown of Russian Plutonium-Producing Reactors By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — The United Kingdom agreed this week to provide $20 million to a U.S. effort to shut down three nuclear reactors in Russia that produce weapon-grade plutonium (see GSN, Jan. 26). The British aid would be provided through a memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday in London by representatives from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration and the British Trade and Industry Ministry. The funding would be used in the design and construction of a new fossil-fuel energy plant to replace one of the three Russian reactors, located in the closed city of Zheleznogorsk. “The signing of this MOU is a major step in our collaborative efforts to address our mutual nonproliferation objectives,” NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks said in a statement. “When the Zheleznogorsk reactor is finally shut down, there will be one less source of nuclear weapons-grade plutonium in the world.” “I am delighted that the U.K., in collaboration with our U.S. and Russian partners, can contribute to this vital program and play a full part in addressing these crucial issues,” British Trade and Industry Minister Nigel Griffiths said in a separate statement. The Zheleznogorsk reactor and two reactors in the closed city of Seversk have been estimated to produce up to 1.2 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium annually — enough to create as many as 300 nuclear weapons. Russia has agreed to shut down the three reactors once replacement facilities are in place to continue to provide electricity and heat to the 215,000 combined residents of the two cities. Construction of the new fossil-fuel plant at Zheleznogorsk is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Late last month, the Nuclear Security Administration awarded a $285 million contract to the U.S. firm Washington Group International to refurbish an existing coal-fired electric plant at Seversk to replace the two reactors there. That project is expected to be completed by 2009, though early progress could result in one of the two reactors being shut down in 2007, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The cost to shut down all three reactors has been previously estimated at more than $460 million. The British aid to the reactor shutdown project is being provided as part of the United Kingdom’s contribution to the G-8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction. The world’s top eight economic powers — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — launched the effort in 2002 to provide $20 billion over 10 years for nonproliferation projects, primarily in Russia. Since the effort began, 13 additional countries have joined as donor nations. In addition, Ukraine has been selected as the next formal recipient country.
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