Russia and the U.S. Tuesday agreed to co-operate on converting highly-enriched research nuclear reactors into low-enriched ones, as part of a broader program to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation worldwide.
Russia
and
the
U.S.
Tuesday agreed to co-operate on converting highly-enriched research nuclear
reactors into low-enriched ones, as part of a broader program to reduce the
risk of nuclear proliferation worldwide.
The move comes less than a week after Russia opened the world's first nuclear
fuel bank in co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, to
encourage nations to buy fuel for civilian nuclear reactors from outside
sources instead of producing it domestically.
Russia
shut
down its last military nuclear reactor this year as part of a program to make
its nuclear industry more transparent. Tuesday,
Russia
's nuclear
corporation Rosatom agreed to start turning six of its highly-enriched nuclear
reactors that are used for research purposes, into low-enriched research
reactors, and said it will also convert fuel from third countries.
The agreement, signed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman and
head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko during a meeting in
Moscow
, aims
at reducing the risk of enriched uranium falling into the hands of terrorists.
The
U.S.
is
already in the process of converting uranium from third countries, said
Poneman.
Russia
and
the
U.S.
have
to date received 2,700 kilograms of radioactive uranium from research reactors
in 30 countries, enough to make 112 nuclear warheads, said Kiriyenko.
Russia
is
becoming a serious player not only in reducing proliferation risks but also
mining uranium, building reactors and enriching fuel. Rosatom has clinched
contracts to build reactors in countries such as
India
,
Vietnam
,
Venezuela
and
China
and
is preparing a bid for a new project in the
Czech
Republic
, its
second in the European Union.
Of the 60 reactors under construction worldwide, Rosatom is building 15, five
of which are outside
Russia
.
A Rosatom subsidiary, Tenex, opened an office in the
U.S.
last
month as it seeks to increase sales of enriched uranium to
U.S.
utilities. The company already supplies close to half the nuclear fuel used by
utilities in the
U.S.
About
10% of all electricity in the
U.S.
is
generated from former Russian nuclear bomb material.
Tenex has said it would also like to begin talks on building an enrichment
plant in the
U.S.
using
Russian technology, if another planned nuclear co-operation deal between the
two countries comes into force.
The 123 Agreement--signed by Moscow and Washington in 2008, but still to be
ratified by the U.S. government--would give the U.S. access to Russia's vast
uranium fields, while Russia would be able to offer its uranium-enrichment
services to the lucrative U.S. market.
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