Russia and the United States decided Tuesday to carry out a feasibility study on removing bomb grade uranium from Russian research reactors. “Together we have done a great contract in returning fuel from third countries. But it is right that we set a model in our countries, too,” said Rosatom general director Sergei Kiriyenko as he signed the contract with U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman in Moscow. This is the first time Russia has dedicated to replacing the weapons grade fuel in its own research reactors under a U.S. led program to safe the world's vulnerable nuclear materials, still though it has taken a guide role in repatriating fuel from other countries.
There are an estimated 120 to 130 research reactors in the world that are fueled by weapons score uranium, about half of which are in Russia. Fearing that terrorists could use stolen fabric to make a bomb, the United States has been sponsoring a drive to change reactors to use less-enriched fuel. Kiriyenko said the viability studies would examine the economic implications of converting six research reactors to low-grade fuel. He declined to set a date by which the process of conversion might be finished. The Rosatom chief said Russia and the United States had so far been intent on repatriating fuel from countries with more vulnerable services, together importing 2,700 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, which he said was sufficient to make 112 warheads.
Nuclear security expert Matthew Bunn hailed the contract as “important progress,” but said it had been “a long time coming.” “I would like to have seen by now real action on the ground to convert quite a number of these reactors, which are plainly possible to convert. But it's betters than nothing,” said Bunn, who publishes an annual report titled "Securing the Bomb" and is a past advisor to the U.S. government on nuclear security. More milestones in nonproliferation were reached past week when Russia announces that it had opened the world's primary uranium bank. The Siberian fuel keep is the first of some such banks that will operate under the auspices of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
There are an estimated 120 to 130 research reactors in the world that are fueled by weapons score uranium, about half of which are in Russia. Fearing that terrorists could use stolen fabric to make a bomb, the United States has been sponsoring a drive to change reactors to use less-enriched fuel. Kiriyenko said the viability studies would examine the economic implications of converting six research reactors to low-grade fuel. He declined to set a date by which the process of conversion might be finished. The Rosatom chief said Russia and the United States had so far been intent on repatriating fuel from countries with more vulnerable services, together importing 2,700 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, which he said was sufficient to make 112 warheads.
Nuclear security expert Matthew Bunn hailed the contract as “important progress,” but said it had been “a long time coming.” “I would like to have seen by now real action on the ground to convert quite a number of these reactors, which are plainly possible to convert. But it's betters than nothing,” said Bunn, who publishes an annual report titled "Securing the Bomb" and is a past advisor to the U.S. government on nuclear security. More milestones in nonproliferation were reached past week when Russia announces that it had opened the world's primary uranium bank. The Siberian fuel keep is the first of some such banks that will operate under the auspices of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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