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 Key Agreements’ Renewal Vital to Nonproliferation Efforts

FOR RELEASE: July 8, 2003

CONTACT: Ken Luongo, (215) 523-9041 or Raphael Della Ratta, (202) 332-1412

(Washington DC) The Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council (RANSAC) released a letter today strongly urging the Bush administration to renew two key nonproliferation agreements with Russia.  The agreements, focused on reducing Russia’s excess fissile material stockpiles and re-employing its surplus weapons scientists, are set to expire soon and there are indications that the Administration may not renew them without changes to their liability provisions.

“There is no compelling reason not to renew these agreements for at least one year,” RANSAC Executive Director Kenneth Luongo asserted. “If the Administration decides to not renew them it will perpetuate well known security vulnerabilities in Russia and raise serious questions about the true commitment of this Administration to rapidly reducing and eliminating global nuclear proliferation dangers,” Luongo continued.

In a July 2 letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Luongo urged U.S. officials to offer to extend these two agreements---the Plutonium Disposition Scientific and Technical Cooperation agreement and the Nuclear Cities Initiative agreement---for at least one year, while both sides continue to negotiate their longer-term extension and improvement in the liability protections.

Both agreements, signed in 1998, have a duration of five years, but negotiations over their renewal have stalled, mainly due to the U.S. desire for more comprehensive liability protections.

RANSAC argues, however, that the level of liability protection within the current NCI and plutonium disposition agreements has been sufficient for the work that has been conducted for the past five years, and is virtually identical to the liability protection provided in the 1993 U.S.-Russia nuclear safety agreement which has already been renewed once without controversy.

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