Legislation Signals Dissatisfaction With Bush Administration’s Nuclear Threat Reduction Efforts

Three pieces of recent federal legislation cut funding and expressed deep dissatisfaction with the Bush administration’s efforts to resolve a key dispute in nuclear security cooperation with Russia, an international security organization announced yesterday (see GSN, May 5).

The House and Senate versions of the Defense Authorization Act, as well as the House Energy and Water Appropriations bill all indicate dissatisfaction with the inability to resolve a disagreement on liability protections under U.S.-Russia cooperative nuclear threat reduction agreements.

“Congress is sending a clear signal to the administration to drive the liability dispute to a conclusion. Hundreds of millions of dollars were cut because promises of progress are no longer enough,” said Kenneth Luongo, executive director of the Russian-American Nuclear Security Advisory Council. “The heart of the Nunn-Lugar agenda is at risk if the impasse continues.”

The dispute has prevented construction of mixed-oxide, or MOX, fuel facilities in the two countries that are necessary for disposal of weapon-grade plutonium, according to RANSAC (RANSAC release, June 1).

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