Georgia is home to three nuclear research institutes. The Andronikashvili Institute of Physics in Tbilisi houses a nonoperational IRT-M research reactor. All fresh and spent fuel was transferred from the reactor facility to Scotland in April 1998 under a multinational effort known as Operation Auburn Endeavor. (For a description of Operation Auburn Endeavor, see the Institute of Physics page.) The High Energy Physics Institute in Tbilisi is not known to house fissile material. The Sukhumi I. Vekua Institute of Physics & Technology (SIPT) was relocated from Sukhumi to Tbilisi due to the conflict in Abkhazia. There are reports that SIPT once housed isotope production reactors and/or 2 kg of 90% enriched uranium, though the whereabouts of the HEU is not known.[1,2]
In June 2007, the French nuclear reactor design company Areva reportedly agreed to study prospects for building a nuclear power plant in Georgia.[3]
Georgia is a signatory to both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In addition, on 6 June 2003, Georgia ratified an Additional Protocol to the NPT.
Key Sources:
[1] NISNP Discussion with Georgian Officials, June 1997.
[2] William C. Potter, "A US NGO Perspective on US-Russian MPC&A Cooperation," paper prepared for the 39th Annual Meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, Naples, Florida, 26-30 July 1998.
[3] Alexei Breus, Ann MacLachlan, "Georgia mulling constructing nuclear plant with Areva's help," Nucleonics Week, 21 June 2007.
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Updated December 2007 |
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