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RANSAC Nuclear News, August 22, 2003 Compiled By: Billy Magnuson A. Cooperative Threat Reduction
 A. Cooperative Threat Reduction 1. Congressmen Tour Russia Boosting U.S.-Russian relations and securing nuclear materials topped the list of issues two Arkansas lawmakers explored during travels to Russia this month. Reps. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, and Marion Berry, D-Gillett, each used part of the monthlong congressional recess to visit the Eastern European nation, home to one of the world�s largest nuclear weapons arsenals. �Russia borders on all the areas of strategic interest to the United States,� said Snyder, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. �It would be in our great national and strategic interest to have a good relationship with Russia.� Snyder and his wife, Betsy, traveled to Moscow from Aug. 11 to 16 with a bipartisan group of 15 lawmakers. The trip was paid for by the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on international issues. Snyder took part in four days of discussions led by American and Russian foreign policy experts on weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, energy security and U.S.-Russian cooperation on China and North Korea. Among the participants were former Defense Secretary Bill Perry, former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. Nunn and Lugar authored legislation establishing a cooperative threat reduction program, which became law in 1991. The program is aimed at safeguarding and dismantling weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. �They are a huge nuclear power and they have a lot of nuclear materials,� Snyder said. �We need to be working closely with them so we don�t ever feel threatened by their nuclear force or materials.� Berry and his wife, Carolyn, traveled to Russia from Aug. 4 to 11 with six other lawmakers on a trip organized by the House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee. The delegation spent the week meeting with members of the Russian parliament and Navy and touring nuclear and transportation facilities in various parts of Russia. The trip�s purpose was to explore how funds are being spent to improve security around the country�s nuclear facilities, Berry said. Berry said he toured a nuclear reactor north of St. Petersburg that was constructed along the same pattern as the one at Chernobyl, the site of a 1986 nuclear reactor explosion that contaminated parts of Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus. Berry said officials at the facility were taking retroactive measures to ensure the reactor�s safety. �I�m confident that they are more aware and more concerned about how security is maintained now than they have been in the past,� he said. Return to Menu B. Plutonium Disposition 1. Official: U.S. Pledges US$200 Million for Construction of Plutonium Conversion Plant The United States has pledged US$200 million for the construction of a plant in Siberia that would convert weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for civilian power stations, a Russian energy official said Thursday. As part of an arms control agreement, Russia and the United States have agreed to convert about 34 metric tons (37.5 US tons) of plutonium each. The plant will be built at the Siberian Chemical Complex in the Tomsk region, the complex's first deputy director, Valery Meshcheryakov, said, according to the Interfax news agency. Meshcheryakov said the Group of Eight industrialized nations would finance the US$1 billion construction of the plant, but so far only the United States has contributed any funding. Russian has about 200 metric tons (220 U.S. tons) of weapons-grade plutonium, and three power plants - in Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and Chelyabinsk - still produce it. Return to Menu 2. U.S. Assigns $200 Million for Construction of MOS(sic)-Fuel Plant in Russia The United States has assigned $200 million for the construction of a plant for producing MOX fuel in the town of Seversk, in Russia's Tomsk region, at a factory currently operated by the Siberian Chemical Plant, the plant's first deputy director general Valery Meshcheryakov told a news conference late on Wednesday. In early August, Meshcheryakov returned from the U.S. at the head of a delegation on adapting the project to the Russian environment. MOX fuel is a blend of uranium and plutonium oxides used in reactors at nuclear power stations. The Tomsk plant, whose construction cost is estimated at about $1 billion, will operate in the framework of a Russian-U.S. program in which 68 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium are expected to be converted into MOX fuel by 2024. The U.S. and Russia will supply equal amounts of plutonium for conversion. "Over 600 people are working on adapting the project in the U.S.," Meshcheryakov said. Russian engineers will travel to the U.S. in early 2004 to contribute to this work, he said. Simultaneously, U.S. engineers will travel to Russia, he said. The plant's construction is to be financed by the G-8, but at the moment it is being funded from the U.S. budget alone, Meshcheryakov said. Under a protocol that summarizes the activities of the plant's delegation in the United States, geological surveys of the area where the future plant is to be built will start in September or October 2003. The foundation pit is expected to be ready by as early as 2005. Russian nuclear power plants using fast neutron reactors of the BN- 600 type, such as the Bely Yar station, or thermal reactors of the VVER- 1000 type, such as the Balakovo station, can use MOX fuel, Meshcheryakov said. Some of the processed plutonium may also be exported, he said. Return to Menu C. MPC&A 1. US Congress Delegation to Familiarize With MCC Nuclear Material Physical Protection The objective of the coming August 22 visit of the US Congressional delegation headed by Kurt Weldon, the co-chair of RF Duma-US Congress inter-parliamentary working group, to Russia is to get familiarized with the system for nuclear materials physical protection, control and accounting at one of the Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC) facilities in Zeleznogorsk. As ITAR-TASS reports referring to the lawmaker�s office, the delegation�s visit to the Russian closed city deals with implementation of nuclear security assistance program to Russia. The delegation is also to visit Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. In Zeleznogorsk the US Congressmen are to get familiarized, in particular, with performance of the new nuclear material security system installed at one of MCC facilities using the US funds. Recently, Kurt Weldon submitted the bill to the Congress to increase assistance to Russia in nuclear security, particularly, the appropriation during the coming two years additional US$ 331 million for programs pursued through Pentagon and US Department of Energy jointly with Russia. These programs are targeted to strengthening radiation sources security, increase in Russian uranium purposes to fabricate fuel for the US nuclear power plants, and prevention of illicit trafficking of fissile materials. Return to Menu D. Biological Weapons 1. U.S., Uzbekistan to Combat Infectious Diseases Jointly U.S. and Uzbek virologists will jointly develop new methods of treating infectious diseases, U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the International Relations Committee, has announced. Lugar arrived in Uzbekistan on an official visit on August 18. He told journalists in Tashkent on Tuesday that he met with President Islam Karimov and Foreign Minister Sadyk Safayev to discuss cooperation, as well as educational exchanges in healthcare and the development of agriculture and small and medium businesses. After a visit to the Institute of Virology, Lugar said that $14 million has been extended to Uzbek virologists. The extension of another $10 million has been approved under the Nunn-Lugar program for lowering the threat of nuclear and biological weapons, instituted by Senators Lugar and Sam Nunn in 1991. Asked about the situation on Vozrozhdeniya Island in the Aral Sea, where grounds for testing biological weapons were located in the Soviet era, Lugar said that U.S. experts are working to deal with biological threats jointly with the Uzbek Defense, Emergency Situations and Health Ministries. In 1988, more than 100 tonnes of biological substances were buried on the island. U.S. experts argue that this stock of biological weapons has not been fully eliminated. Clean-up operations were carried out on the island in 2002 to prevent these substances from getting into the hands of terrorists. Some of the funds envisioned in the Nunn-Lugar program were spent on this work. On Tuesday evening, Lugar will fly to Ankara. Return to Menu E. Submarine Dismantlement 1. Zvezdochka Shipyard Started Cutting Multipurpose Nuclear Submarine Under Russia-Norway Contracts Severodvinsk-based Zvezdochka defence shipyard has started disposing K-438 multipurpose nuclear submarine. The work is done under the Russia-Norway contracts signed June 30. Presently they are cutting off the deck-house and dismantling the equipment, ITAR-TASS reported. Ultimately, the nuclear submarine will be cut into pieces in the launching dock. Zvezdochka has started disposing the submarine without waiting for the Norwegian cash to reach the shipyard's bank account. According to the two contracts totalling 10 million euros, Norway is to fund the disposition of two Russian multipurpose nuclear submarines: at Zvezdochka and Nerpa ship repair yard in Murmansk Region. Meanwhile, three more Northern navy nuclear submarines have arrived at Zvezdochka shipyard for cutting. So far, the retired submarines are kept afloat waiting until the financing issue to cut them is settled. The nuclear submarines had been enlisted by the shipyard in the hope that the due finding will be shortly available for disposition of the Russian multipurpose nuclear submarines under joint international programs. Return to Menu F. U.S.-Russia 1. US Undersecretary of State to Meet Russian Officials in Moscow US Undersecretary of State John Bolton is to arrive in Moscow on a working visit on Monday, August 25th. RIA Novosti has been told at the US embassy that Bolton is going to meet with some officials in Moscow. The main issue to be discussed is the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The North Korean nuclear problem is also to be considered in the light of six-party negotiations on this issue to begin in Beijing on August 27. Return to Menu 2. In Russia, Defanged B-52 is Da Bomb The plane that Soviets feared would deliver a nuclear blast during the Cold War draws a crowd at an air show. For a few brief moments, a patch of sky darkened Wednesday over this wooded Moscow suburb, and the screeching black profile that Russians spent years learning to hate � the U.S. B-52 Stratofortress, or, to those from an earlier era, simply the plane that would be delivering the Bomb when it came � touched down at a Russian military airfield. Inside the cockpit, where a U.S. Air Force crew had flown more than 13 hours from Minot, N.D., the approach had been dramatic: a countdown of the last few miles before entering Russian airspace, an improbable flight over downtown Moscow and touchdown at an airfield they had seen only on their war-game-simulator flights. On the tarmac, crowds of Russians maneuvered around the plane that has been the Darth Vader of the American strategic arsenal for 50 years and entreated passersby to photograph them standing in front of it. Images of the demise of the Cold War have been so numerous they are now unremarkable. Except, perhaps, for this day at the Moscow Air Show, when the B-52 joined U.S. F-15s and F-16s for the first official demonstrations of American military airpower on Russian soil. Throughout the week, U.S. pilots are offering up to 1 million spectators at Russia's equivalent of the Paris Air Show demonstrations of their flying machines, alongside similar air spectacles by their Russian counterparts, the Black Knights and the Swifts, and aerial-performance groups from France and Italy. The fighter jets took a back seat Wednesday to the venerable B-52, which as late as 1968 patrolled the skies of the Earth 24 hours a day, each of the planes laden with 50 megatons of nuclear bombs that on the last day of life as anyone knew it were destined for delivery to Moscow and other Russian targets. As late as 1991, fleets of B-52s maintained ground-alert postures at U.S. Strategic Air Command bases, loaded and parked at the edges of runways, ready for instant deployment in combat with, as actor Slim Pickens memorably called them in his role as a B-52 commander in the 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove" � "the Russkies." Now, here was the flat-black profile of the 1961-vintage bomber � since used heavily with conventional weapons in Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq � sitting on a Russian runway, only a few hundred feet from the workhorse of the Russian bombing fleet, the Tu-95 Bear, and its more modern counterpart, the Tu-160. "It has extreme symbolic significance for us, after all the years of Cold War confrontation. This is the plane they scared us with for all those decades," said Magomed Tolboyev, a former cosmonaut and test pilot who is president of the air show. "This was the plane that could have brought nuclear weapons to Russia, and now it's quietly sitting here like in a zoo. An alligator with no teeth," he said. The eight-member U.S. air crew was jubilant. "To be told, 'You have permission to enter Russian airspace' � I never thought I'd hear that in my lifetime," said Lt. Col. Rob Bussian, the B-52 squadron commander from Minot Air Force Base who piloted the plane. "And then, to fly over downtown Moscow?" Lt. Col. Bill Panande, radar navigator on the flight, said the crew flew over Canada, refueled over the North Sea, then crossed the Baltic Sea and Latvia. "After that, we were counting it down out loud: 10 miles to go. Five miles. Three miles. OK, guys, we're in Russia," Panande related. Shortly after touchdown, after the pilots had filled out Russian customs forms, Tolboyev climbed into the pilot's seat and got a rundown on the controls from Bussian. "CRTs, flap handle displays, new avionics," the American pilot said, fingering each. "Also, low-light TV, and we used this for the first time in Iraq, a laser-targeting pod." Tolboyev nodded knowingly. "Aerial refueling?" he said. "Yes, the doors are up here." "I used to refuel fighters, and I never understood at the time how it was possible to refuel such an aircraft," Tolboyev said. "But I feel like I'm sitting in a normal Russian aircraft. No difference at all." The end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism have hit the Russian air force particularly hard, with shrinking budgets taking their toll on both equipment and training. This month, three military aircraft crashed in unrelated accidents on a single day, and even as the air show got underway, searchers were combing the Kamchatka Peninsula for an Mi-8 helicopter that disappeared Wednesday, carrying a regional governor and 16 other people. Russian air force chief Vladimir Mikhailov, after the crashes, lamented inadequate air crew skills, saying military pilots now fly an average of 40 hours a year, less than the required minimum of 100 hours. U.S. pilots, by contrast, normally log hundreds of hours each year. "The current military-technical revolution, which is in full bloom in the West, is bypassing Russia," said Pavel Felgengauer, an independent military analyst in Moscow. "Russia seems to be incapable of producing new high-tech weapons and hardware anymore. Even at this air show, what they can demonstrate was either produced or designed in Soviet times." Still, next year the Russian air force is scheduled, after several years of money-induced delays, to start receiving a modernized version of the MIG-29 fighter and an upgraded variant of the MIG-31, along with a new long-range air defense missile, the S-400. And when it comes to planes, for many of the aviation professionals gathered this week at Russia's premier aircraft testing facility � whose 3.4-mile runway is the longest in Europe � there is an abiding affection for the tried and true. As crowds gathered around the B-52, Maj. Andrei Schegolikhin pointed at the gleaming frame nearby of the Tu-95, the big turboprop missile carrier that has been the mainstay of the Soviet strategic bombing force. "That was your enemy during the Cold War," he said, nodding his head. "During the times of the Cold War, they [the Tu-95 and the B-52] patrolled the skies together along the border lines and the neutral zones, in the Far East for example. "They even knew the faces of each other," he said. Then he pointed to a man in a dark suit who was standing alone and gazing up at the old bomber: Dmitri A. Antonov, chief designer on the Tu-95 for Tupolev Aircraft since the 1980s. "Talk to him," Schegolikhin advised. Antonov appeared reticent to speak at first but warmed to a question about whether the Tu-95 was a better aircraft. "This plane has more or less the same speed as the B-52, and I would like to point out that the B-52 has eight engines, and this plane has only four. We proved that you could reach maximum speed with these type of engines," he said. He went on talking about swept-back wing designs, turboprops versus jet engines, how long each plane could fly between refuelings. "It is hard to compare two planes, but for me, this machine is the best," he said, looking at his plane. "It's a beauty. I am in love with it." Return to Menu 3. Washington Prepares for the Visit by Vladimir Putin The main theme of the Russian-American negotiations in Washington, which is attended by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak, is preparations for the visit to the United States by Vladimir Putin. Official spokesman for the US Department of State Richard Boucher told reporters about it. According to him, on Tuesday Sergei Kislyak will meet with US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. During the three days of his stay in the American capital the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister will have meetings also with US Under Secretaries of State John Bolton and Marc Grossman and with Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones, said Richard Boucher. The negotiations will first of all touch upon the bilateral aspects of the Russian-American relations. However, the questions concerning the DPRK will also be discussed, said the spokesman for the State Department. Return to Menu G. Russia-Iran 1. Atomic Ministry Empowered to Sign Addendum to Agt With Iran The Russian government has empowered the Atomic Energy Ministry to sign a protocol on amendments to the agreement with the Iranian government on the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Russian government sources said Friday that under the addendum the Iranian organizations shall present and Russian organizations accept spent nuclear fuel from the nuclear power plant for temporary technological storage and subsequent recycling. Return to Menu 2. Nuclear Fuel for Iranian Nuclear Plant Ready for Shipment Russian nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr power plant is ready for shipment. "The nuclear fuel for the experimental launch of the Bushehr reactor and its subsequent operation has been manufactured and is kept in store at the facilities of the TVEL company in Novosibirsk," sources at the Atomic Energy Ministry said. The Russian government has empowered the Atomic Energy Ministry to sign a protocol on amendments to the inter-government agreement with Iran on cooperation in nuclear power, government sources told Tass. "The first consignment of nuclear fuel for the Bushehr reactor will be delivered as soon as Russia and Iran have put their signatures to the addendum, and this will happen in the near future," the Atomic Energy Ministry said. Under the addendum section Iranian organizations shall present and Russian organizations accept spent nuclear fuel from the Bushehr nuclear power plant for its subsequent technical storage and recycling. "The degree of completion of the first Bushehr reactor Russian specialists are building in Iran is 80 percent. The facility where nuclear fuel of Russian manufacture will be kept is ready, too," the source said. A total of 160 nuclear fuel assemblies weighing about 80 tonnes will be delivered to Iran by truck. Return to Menu 3. RF Government Approved Bushehr SNF Return Supplemental According to the governmental information department, the Russian Federation Government issued Decree 510 of August 20, 2003 to approve the draft protocol on supplementing the agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning cooperation in construction in the territory of Iran of a nuclear power plant of August 25, 1992. The supplemental provides for the Iranian side to hand over and for the Russian side to receive for temporary storage followed by processing the irradiated nuclear assemblies (spent nuclear fuel (SNF)) from Bushehr nuclear power plant after they have been held up in the plant�s hold-up pools. The draft protocol was developed by the Ministry of the Russian Federation of Atomic Energy and agreed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of the Russian Federation of Economic Development and Trade, the Ministry of the Russian Federation of Natural Resources, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, the Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Authority of Russia (Gosatomnadzor of Russia) and had been preliminary worked through with the Iranian side. Minatom of Russia is charged with negotiating with the Iranian side and, when agreement is reached, to sign it on behalf of the RF Government. Minatom is also authorized to amend and supplement the protocol if such amendments and supplements are not of principle. Return to Menu 4. Busherh-2 Feasibility Study Handed Over to Iranian Side The feasibility study (FS) documentation on construction of Busherh-2 in Iran was completed and sent to the Iranian side, as Nuclear.Ru was told by Atomstroyexport Director General Viktor Kozlov. The agreement to carry out the FS was reached last December during RF Minister for Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyntsev�s visit to Iran. Last week the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) obtained the permit to complete construction of the second phase of Busherh nuclear plant and signing of the relevant contracts. The IAEO report containing characteristics of the comparative construction completion options will be submitted to the department for management and planning within the ministry of energy, which is to select the most efficient proposal regarding completion of 1,000 MW Busherh-2. Before his last year visit to Iran A. Rumyantsev said that considering Busherh-1 construction experience it would be more reasonable to abandon the 10% of work had done by Siemens at the site. Power unit 2 concreting is closing to reactor dome building. �Economically speaking and considering climate and corrosion it would be better to start construction on this side from the scratch. And if one is to build it is better to build two units because our technologies are as such: it is more cost effective and efficient�, Rumyantsev said. Return to Menu 5. Minatom Says it will Build Second Reactor at Bushehr Russian nuclear authorities confirmed today they intend to build a second reactor at the Bushehr site. This happened despite mounting world pressure on Iran�s nuclear programme to open its doors for more invasive inspections, and the threat of an Israeli military attack on the Moscow-built Bushehr reactor. According to Yury Bespalko, a spokesman for Russia�s Ministry of Atomic Energy, or Minatom, the second reactor�which has already been approved by Iran�s Atomic Energy Organisation�will be identical to the first. That first reactor is an $800m, 1000-megawatt light water reactor, which is now slated to go online in 2005. Bespalko said Minatom�s foreign reactor construction wing, Atomstroiproekt, would be building the second reactor for �approximately the same price as the first reactor,� $800m, and that a new influx of Russian nuclear specialists into Iran�which is suspected by the West, and even some security experts and government officials in Russia, of developing a weapons programme�would follow the signing of the new reactor contract between Moscow and Tehran. Bespalko said no date had yet been set for the beginning of construction. Return to Menu H. Russia-North Korea 1. Russian, Chinese Foreign Ministers Discuss N Korea Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has talked to his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing by phone. The sides discussed a settlement of the Korean problem. "Exchanging opinions in the run-up to the six-sided negotiations on the Korean problem in Beijing, the two states yet again confirmed their identical positions. Both Russia and China favour a constructive, businesslike, and equal approach to the problems in question, mutual respect of the rightful concerns of the parties, and a search for mutually acceptable solutions," reads a Russian Foreign Ministry statement posted on the ministry's website on Thursday. Ivanov thanked China for its active efforts to improve interaction on the world arena in settling the North Korean nuclear problem. "The sides agreed to maintain further regular contacts and work together in the spirit of the strategic partnership between Russia and China, and also conduct a constructive dialogue with all parties involved in the negotiating process," it reads. The ministers condemned the recent attack against the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which confirmed the need to take urgent measures towards a settlement in Iraq. They favoured the soonest possible establishment of a legitimate Iraqi government, confirmed their recognition of Iraq's sovereignty, and supported the UN's more active role in rebuilding the country. "The conversation was held in a friendly and open atmosphere," the document says. Return to Menu 2. No N. Korea Observers At Russian Pacific Fleet Manoeuvres The North Korean leadership has declined to send observers to Russia's Pacific Fleet exercises due to the aggravating situation on the Korean peninsula, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Vladimir Kuroyedov said Wednesday. North Korea sees no way of sending its observers to Russia's military exercises, because of the going on US-South Korea joint exercises in the Sea of Japan, the admiral said. In his words, the manoeuvres will be monitored by Japanese, South Korean observers and the US coast guards. The Navy commander added, that though Russia had not been invited to the South Korea-US exercises, it is nevertheless following their progress. Return to Menu 3. North Korea Denounces Russian Naval Exercises North Korea has denounced large-scale Russian naval exercises taking place in the Russian Pacific and snubbed an invitation to send military observers, Russia's defence minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Itar-Tass news agency said Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told a video-conference with Russian naval chiefs that Pyongyang had refused to send observers to the manoeuvres saying they would lead to "a sharpening of the atmosphere on the Korean peninsula." The sharp reaction from Pyongyang came a week before the start of six-country talks on North Korea's nuclear programme. The participants in the talks will be Russia, the United States, Japan, China and the two Koreas. Return to Menu 4. Russian and Japanese Diplomats Meet Before Korea Talks A top Russian diplomat met with the Japanese ambassador Monday to discuss upcoming six-nation talks aimed at easing the tension over North Korea's nuclear programs, the Foreign Ministry said. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov and Japanese Ambassador Issei Nomura both expressed hope that "the optimal solution, providing for the nuclear-free status of the Korean peninsula, the security of the states located there and stability in Northeast Asia, will be found," the ministry said in a statement. Representatives from Russia and Japan - along with the United States, China and the two Koreas - are scheduled to take part in Aug. 27-29 talks in Beijing on North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons. Return to Menu 5. Russia, Japan Hope for Best Solution of Korean Problems Russia and Japan hope for "an optimal solution of problems in the Korean Peninsula". Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov and Japanese Ambassador to Russia Issei Nomura emphasised at consultations which were held here on Monday, that such a solution "should ensure a nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsula, security of the two Korean states, peace and stability in North Eastern Asia", Tass learnt at the Russian Foreign Ministry. The consultations were held in connection with the six-party talks on the situation in the Korean Peninsula to be held in Beijing on August 27-29. Losyukov and Nomura "confirmed the intention of Russia and Japan to exercise cooperation in achieving these aims". "A potential conflict in the Korean Peninsula creates a threat to Russia's security," Losyukov said earlier in an interview with Tass. Therefore, Moscow is interested in success of the six-party negotiations. "We set the task of developing mutual confidence among all participants," the deputy minister added. A desire by North Korea "to have its own security guarantees is quite logical, and they will insist, to all appearances, on getting them", he underlined. Russia and China, the diplomat went on to say, have a chance to play here a key role. The two countries could offer North Korea additional guarantees "if guarantees of the United States do not satisfy North Korea fully", Losyukov claimed. According to the deputy minister, the thing is "to buttress U.S. guarantees with additional weight of Russia and China", which would help Pyongyang "to treat American guarantees with greater confidence". Return to Menu I. Russia-Indonesia 1. Jakarta's Nuclear Dream Indonesia's plans to use nuclear power to meet its spiralling energy demands have been boosted by the Russian Government's approval of a draft agreement allowing it to build nuclear power plants in Indonesia. Russian news agency Interfax on Tuesday night announced the draft agreement between the Russian and Indonesian governments covering "co-operation in the peaceful usage of nuclear energy". "The document states that Russia and Indonesia will work together on developing, designing, constructing and operating research reactors and nuclear power plants, including low-capacity nuclear power plants, and pertinent research associated with them," the Interfax statement said. Although it is the world's biggest natural gas producer, Indonesia has long expressed a desire to build nuclear power plants to meet a power shortage that the World Bank says poses serious threats to the country. However, there is considerable opposition to nuclear power, especially in the likely location of Java, which is dotted with active volcanoes and is the world's most densely populated island. There were major protests in the mid-1990s when former technology minister Habibie proposed a nuclear power plant on the slopes of an active volcano. Indonesia is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Interfax statement stressed it would not have the right to use the nuclear materials and technologies it receives for creating nuclear explosive devices. Indonesia already has a National Nuclear Energy Agency and has drawn up guidelines on how nuclear power could be generated safely. Earlier this year Hatta Rajasa, the Indonesian Minister for Research and Technology, said: "We have the capability to build nuclear power plants, and we should." The agreement with Russia is for 10 years, with an extension for a further five years, and it is considered unlikely that any project will be started before 2010. Russia is keen to sell its nuclear technology and is building power plants in Iran, India and China. In April Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarnoputri visited Russia where she signed a friendship treaty and agreed to buy four Russian fighter aircraft. One idea raised at the time was for Russia to supply Indonesia with a floating nuclear power plant. Return to Menu 2. Government Approves Draft of Nuclear Power Deal with Indonesia The Russian government has approved a draft of an agreement with Indonesia on cooperation in the nuclear energy industry, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday. The draft, which the government said had been discussed with Indonesia, calls for the two countries to exchange nuclear materials, equipment and technology while fulfilling their obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and other international export control agreements, Interfax said, citing the government press service. It said Indonesia would be forbidden to use the materials and technologies its receives from Russia to create explosive nuclear devices. The agreement says that Russia and Indonesia will work together on developing nuclear power plants and research reactors, as well as other project. It does not mention specific projects. Russia's Nuclear Energy Ministry is building reactors for power plants in China, India and Iran and is actively seeking more deals abroad. The United States is concerned about its cooperation with Iran, saying it could help Tehran develop nuclear weapons. Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri visited Moscow in April and signed a friendship treaty with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Return to Menu 3. Russia Approved Draft Agreement With Indonesia on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy The Government of the Russian Federation issued Decree № 592 of August 16, 2003 to approve the draft intergovernmental cooperative agreement between Russia and Indonesia on the peaceful uses of atomic energy. According to the governmental information department, Minatom of Russia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were charged with conducting negotiations with Indonesia and sign the agreement provided the consent was reached. The draft agreement envisages the cooperation in the following areas: development, design, construction and operation of research reactors and nuclear power plants including small power plants that comprise the floating nuclear power units, and R&D; high-temperature gas-cooled reactors for industrial purposes; the use of atomic energy for desalination of sea and artesian water; hydrogen production; production and application of radioisotopes, facilities and accelerators for irradiation in medicine and industry; administrative and scientific personnel training and retraining; the state regulation of nuclear and radiation safety. The agreement is to be concluded for 10 years with automatic extension for the next five-year periods. Return to Menu J. Nuclear Industry 1. Nuclear Ministry to Shed 15 of Its Stakes Stakes in 15 enterprises belonging to the Nuclear Power Ministry will be sold off next year and three concerns will be made joint-stock societies as a first step toward possible privatization, the Property Ministry said Thursday. None of the 15 enterprises are involved in power generation, nuclear research or radioactive waste reprocessing. Instead, the list is made up of metallurgic plants, design institutes and construction firms. Slated to become joint-stock societies are the Yekaterinburg-based Kauchuk chemical enterprise, Moscow's Polymetall plant and the VNIPIET design institute in the Leningrad region. "I believe that joint-stock societies have more transparent accounting than state enterprises," Nuclear Power Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said in a July interview with Nuclear.ru, a monitoring organization. "They [joint-stock societies] have shareholders who ask, 'What are you doing with this, with that?'" he said. "As it stands now, what sort of power do I exercise over them? I can fire one director, but another will come and hide things so well that I will never find out. I have been a director and I know all these tricks." Property Ministry spokesman Alexander Parshukov said Thursday that the state is desperate to get rid of its 10,000 federal state enterprises, of which 40 percent are loss-making, another 40 percent barely break even and only the remaining 20 percent eke out "a tiny profit." Parshukov said that debt collectors approached the ministry last year for 7 billion rubles ($231 million) of bankrupt enterprises' unpaid bills. "There's no money in the budget to cover those debts," he said, adding that other ministries need to decide which state enterprises they want to continue to support, and which ones they do not. After the ministries decide "which enterprises are vital for them, we will start dealing with the rest," he said. These privatization plans are part of the government's broader sell-off program for 2004, approved by the Cabinet on Thursday. The program calls for sending 1,050 state unitary enterprises and 629 state stakes to the auction block next year. The largest sale will be a 7.6 percent stake in LUKoil, as well as the state's shares in the Novorossiisk, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok sea ports. Earlier, the Property Ministry had said the government plans to raise 35 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) from state asset sales next year. The VNIPIET design institute, located in the town of Sosnovy Bor, has assets worth only 589,000 rubles, or less than $20,000, according to the Property Ministry -- about the cost of a one-room apartment in downtown St. Petersburg. VNIPIET's employees say they face an uncertain future. Andrei Martynov, deputy director of the institute, said in a telephone interview Thursday that his institute, located near the LAES nuclear power plant, the biggest one in the country's northwest, is far from being a tasty morsel. "We went bankrupt a while ago. Now, our debts are restructured," he said. He said he cannot imagine who would be eager to buy VNIPIET if it is indeed eventually privatized. "Just to use our building? But who needs an office center here in Sosnovy Bor?" Return to Menu K. Official Statements 1. Daily Press Briefing (excerpted) [...] QUESTION: Richard, a respected Middle East expert and policy advisor, Michael Ledeen of American Enterprise Institute, has come out with some criticisms of Secretary Powell saying, in some respects, he's been diplomatically naive with respect to Iran. Is he justified? MR. BOUCHER: I haven't seen the comment, but I think our policy on Iran is quite well expressed. We've been very, very clear. The Secretary has been very, very clear about the need for Iran to end all support for terrorism. The policy the administration has pursued in the IAEA and elsewhere in order to organize the international community to cut off support for nuclear efforts in Iran is showing some success. As you know, this is something that's pursued -- been pursued for many, many years. I remember Secretary Eagleburger talking to Foreign Minister Kozyrev about it, Russia's support for nuclear activity in Iran, and it's been in recent months that the United States, through the efforts of Secretary Powell and others has been able to see quite a change in the Russian attitude towards nuclear developments in Iran, as well as in the attitude of the international community as expressed in the IAEA and elsewhere. So, I haven't seen the exact text of the criticism, but anything along those lines doesn't seem to correspond to any factual basis of what we're actually doing and achieving in terms of our policy towards Iran. [�] QUESTION: Richard, a respected Middle East expert and policy advisor, Michael Ledeen of American Enterprise Institute, has come out with some criticisms of Secretary Powell saying, in some respects, he's been diplomatically naive with respect to Iran. Is he justified? MR. BOUCHER: I haven't seen the comment, but I think our policy on Iran is quite well expressed. We've been very, very clear. The Secretary has been very, very clear about the need for Iran to end all support for terrorism. The policy the administration has pursued in the IAEA and elsewhere in order to organize the international community to cut off support for nuclear efforts in Iran is showing some success. As you know, this is something that's pursued -- been pursued for many, many years. I remember Secretary Eagleburger talking to Foreign Minister Kozyrev about it, Russia's support for nuclear activity in Iran, and it's been in recent months that the United States, through the efforts of Secretary Powell and others has been able to see quite a change in the Russian attitude towards nuclear developments in Iran, as well as in the attitude of the international community as expressed in the IAEA and elsewhere. So, I haven't seen the exact text of the criticism, but anything along those lines doesn't seem to correspond to any factual basis of what we're actually doing and achieving in terms of our policy towards Iran. [�] QUESTION: The Russian -- Russia has announced that naval operations that would -- in the case of a conflict between North and South Korea. How does that affect upcoming talks, the six-party talks? MR. BOUCHER: I have no idea. Sorry. Return to Menu 2. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov Speaks to Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Kharazi by Telephone On August 18 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Ivanov had a telephone conversation with Kamal Kharazi, Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs. The focus was mainly on discussing questions linked to the situation around the nuclear program of Iran. Kharazi informed Ivanov of the Iranian side's recent contacts with the representatives of the IAEA. He also reconfirmed the exclusively peaceful character of the nuclear program being carried out in Iran, the adherence of Teheran to its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and readiness to further expand cooperation with the Agency. The ministers agreed to continue a substantive discussion of these problems during upcoming bilateral consultations in Teheran at the level of experts. During the conversation, questions were also considered relating to a resolution of the situation in Iraq and to the course of the negotiating process on the problems of the Caspian Sea. Return to Menu 3. Senator Lugar Urges Continued U.S.-Kazakhstan Nonproliferation Cooperation Senator Richard Lugar (R - IN), on a visit to Almaty on August 18, said the United States and Kazakhstan should continue working together on nonproliferation issues. This includes such activities as securing fissile materials and supporting the operations of the Almaty-based anti-plague research facility, according to Khabar (www.khabar.kz) and Kazinform (www.kazaag.kz) news agencies. Speaking at a news conference, Sen. Lugar said the works would continue until at least 2007. He noted this year the U.S. will provide $20 million in support of the development of the anti-plague research facility, formally known as the Scientific Center for Quarantine Infections. "A new laboratory will be built here, which will sustain the joint efforts of Kazakhstan and the U.S. for many years," Sen. Lugar said after touring the facility. Lugar, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted the overall U.S. assistance would continue until the nuclear materials are secured and the many natural hot zones of plague and other infectious diseases are isolated. Sen. Lugar noted that the American assistance in Kazakhstan under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program was used efficiently over these years and pointed to the establishment of the export control regime for fissile materials and the development of a solid legislative base. The funds were largely used to destroy the infrastructure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, the bioweapons plant in Stepnogorsk and other projects. Kazakhstan provided leadership in global disarmament, Sen. Lugar noted, when, "having [inherited] such enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons, it voluntarily renounced them and became a non-nuclear state. This decisive and courageous step is known and recognized by the whole world." Earlier in the day, Sen. Lugar spoke to President Nursultan Nazarbayev by telephone, and thanked him for Kazakhstan's support in the war on terror and the upcoming dispatch of engineers from Kazakhstan's army to Iraq. He later met separately with Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokaev, and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Vladimir Shkolnik. According to the decree of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Minister Tokaev presented Senator Lugar with Kazakhstan's highest award for foreign dignitaries, Order Dostyk of the 1st degree, for his contribution to ensuring international security and promoting bilateral cooperation in nonproliferation. Former Senator Sam Nunn was awarded the same order by the same decree, the administration of the President announced today. Back in 1992, the two senators cosponsored the bipartisan landmark legislation creating the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which paved the way for U.S. financial assistance in destroying the weapons of mass destruction and their infrastructure in the former USSR. During the past decade, the U.S. has spent up to 1 billion dollars under the program in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. This includes about 200 million dollars in Kazakhstan. Return to Menu L. Links of Interest 1. Reinvigorating Counter-Proliferation Return to Menu 2. Freedom or Force on the High Seas? Arms Interdiction and International Law Return to Menu 3. Russian Regional Perspectives Issue 2: Russia's New Southern border: Western Siberia-Central Asia Return to Menu DISCLAIMER: Nuclear News is presented for informational purposes only. Views presented in any given article are those of the individual author or source and not of RANSAC. RANSAC takes no responsibility for the technical accuracy of information contained in any article presented in Nuclear News. RANSAC's Nuclear News is compiled two to three times weekly. To be automatically removed from our mailing list, click on the following link: Remove Me From The List If you have questions/comments/concerns, please reply to news@216.119.87.134 |
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