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RANSAC Nuclear News, November 13, 2003 Compiled By: Matthew Bouldin A. Nuclear Terrorism
 A. Nuclear Terrorism 1. NUCLEAR SECURITY DRILL DUE BEYOND POLAR CIRCLE IN EUROPEAN RUSSIA BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 13 (RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT ALEXANDER SHISHLO) - In 2004 Russia will hold a nuclear security drill in the Kola peninsula area, said Vice-Admiral Valentin Kuznetsov, Russia's chief military representative in NATO. "During the drill we'll show our NATO colleagues what we can do as regards nuclear security against terrorist threats and in case of a missile accident. We have enough experience of such drills," said Kuznetsov. He recalled that Russia had already invited American representatives to drills of this kind. "Now we have increased the number of foreign observers to 60," said the chief Russian military representative in NATO. He voiced the hope for reciprocation from countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. "We are waiting for invitations to their drills. Our British and American colleagues know that and very soon may invite our observers to drills in their territory," said Valentin Kuznetsov. Return to Menu 2. PUTIN FOR GOVERNMENT CONTROL OVER SECURITY AT IMPORTANT PRIVATE FACILITIES MOSCOW, November 13th, 2003 (RIA Novosti) - The state should gain control over security at all important private facilities, the Russian president said Thursday at a joint session of the Security Council and the State Council's Presidium. State control will help protect the country's vital interests, said Putin. This issue is undoubtedly far from simple and therefore requires detailed consideration to be followed by clearly formulated legal functions of the relevant state bodies, stressed the president. Return to Menu 3. RUSSIAN STATE & SECURITY COUNCILS START MEETING IN THE KREMLIN MOSCOW, November 13 (Itar-Tass) - A joint meeting of the presidium of the Russian State Council and the Russian Security Council started under the chairmanship of President Vladimir Putin in the Grand Kremlin Palace on Thursday to discuss the state of protection of vital national security facilities and the population from the risks of manmade accidents and natural disasters as well as manifestations of terrorism. A series of recent accidents has made this subject urgent for Russia and calls for building an adequate algorithm for actions in such situations. Vyacheslav Bezborov, the head of department for defence and industrial security, said that up to 40 million Russians live in seismically active areas and face the risks of manmade accidents. Russia's chief funds for the liquidation of the aftermaths of natural disasters and manmade accidents were created in the 1950s-1970s and haven' t been renovated since then. Russia spends up to 600 bln rubles or three percent of the GDP to compensate for the damage caused by such accidents. Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu said that 10.7 billion roubles should annually be allocated to ensure the radiological, chemical and bacteriological security of vital national security facilities. He explained that the sum would be allocated on a 50%-50% basis from the federal budget and the budgets of ministries and agencies. Shoigu expressed the hope that the meeting would adopt the underlying principles of state policy in the field of radiological, chemical and biological security. "A great deal of work will have to be done next year," Shoigu stressed. Return to Menu 4. NUCLEAR POWER MINISTRY CONFIRMS PROTECTION RELIABILITY OF RUSSIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 12. /RIA NOVOSTI / -- The standard of protection of Russia's nuclear facilities meets the international standards and criterions, Russian Nuclear Power Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said to reporters on Thursday during a break at a joint session of the Russian Security Council and the presidium of the State Council. "Protection against the threat of terrorism requires daily actions and thought, for instance how to prevent a catastrophe like the September 11 terrorist attack in New York", Rumyantsev said. Peace of mind and loss of vigilance are impossible, he continued. "There are now suicide terrorists and we certainly must know how to be protected", Rumyantsev said. And assured journalists that the nuclear sector is taking measures. Return to Menu B. Chemical Weapons Destruction 1. TIME FRAME FOR CHEMICAL WEAPONS DESTRUCTION IN RUSSIA WILL BE EXTENDED MOSCOW, November 11, 2003. /RIA Novosti correspondent Sergei Zelentsov/. The final time frame for destruction of chemical weapons in Russia will be extended, announced director of special projects of the Organization on the Ban of Chemical Weapons Sergei Batsanov. He spoke at a public forum dedicated to Russia's compliance with provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Mr Batsanov reminded the participants of the forum that Russia, while joining the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, promised to destroy all chemical weapons at the facilities on its territory during a time frame of 10 years. "The Organization on the Ban of Chemical Weapons has altered the interim time frames several times, and at present it is clear that the final time frame will have to be extended, as well," announced Sergei Batsanov. He believes the major reason for the extension is an insufficient financing of chemical weapons destruction programs and construction of facilities designed for disintoxication of munitions containing poison gases in Russia. At the same time, Mr. Batsanov underlined that despite the objective difficulties with financing, the Russian side intends to expedite the destruction of chemical weapons. At present, Russia has approximately 40,000 tons of poisonous materials, which are kept at high-security facilities in six regions of Russia. Return to Menu C. Biological Weapons Programs 1. SIBERIAN CHALLENGES BECKON TO BIOSCIENTISTS The University of New Mexico is hoping to ship some of the nation's top biological scientists off to the far reaches of Siberia. This isn't a forced exile. Rather, it's part of a program by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency designed to help biological weapons scientists in the former Soviet Union work on nonweapons projects and bring them into the international scientific community. "Russian biological weapons laboratories are run-down, but they're still terrific high-level containment facilities," said Al Zelicoff, a biological weapons expert and UNM professor. "When the Soviet Union collapsed, the Russian government stopped funding those labs. The thing of it is, if we don't fund them, somebody else will." That somebody else could be a terrorist or foreign country with dubious intentions toward the United States, Zelicoff said. Instead of leaving the situation to deteriorate, UNM officials asked the Defense Threat Reduction Agency if they could create a scientific collaboration program. They will work with officials from New Mexico State University and Penn State University on the project, said Roger Hagengruber, director of UNM's Office for Policy, Security and Technology. "We want to help these former bioweapons researchers convert to other types of work, and we want to bring them into the larger scientific community," Hagengruber said. "Obviously the people best suited to do that are from universities. UNM is in a wonderful position to offer that sort of support because we have a very strong bioscience and medical science programs." NMSU and Penn State add to that package, through their expertise in agriculture and animal sciences, he said. The former Soviet Union's weapons labs are spread out in some of the far reaches of its territory, including Siberia, Kamchatka and Russia's neighbor, Kazakhstan. Living conditions won't be ideal, but the labs will offer American scientists opportunities to work on projects that aren't feasible in the United States, Zelicoff said. "The problem (in the United States) isn't containment or lax regulations; it's public perceptions," he said. "Take smallpox. It's a window on the human immune system - it interferes with every component of the immune system. There's a lot left to study about it, but most Americans would be pretty upset if they found out the college down the street had a supply of it." Other possible projects include studying the SARS virus, looking at different strains of anthrax and how symptoms vary with each strain, and investigating new ways to fight diseases such as Ebola virus or even West Nile virus. "These projects will use Russian biological expertise to give their scientists a future that can help mankind," Hagengruber said. "In the process, we hope it also helps their economy and leads to the formation of new companies. Those are very good things to do." Americans working in Russia, under U.S. law, must follow the same safety precautions required in the United States, even if they are in a foreign country with fewer restrictions, Zelicoff said. "Even if they're sloppy over there, we can't go to Russia and be sloppy," he said. "Another benefit is the Russian health system is much quicker to approve research than the U.S. health system is." The program is somewhat similar to previous efforts aimed at nuclear scientists in the former Soviet Union. Those have been very successful in preventing Russian nuclear expertise from leaving the country, Hagengruber said. "In biology, you could argue the need for a program like this is even greater," Zelicoff said. "It's hard for a nuclear scientist to build a bomb. That takes a lot of large, hard-to-find equipment. A biological weapon doesn't take much space, and the equipment is available everywhere." The university group plans to start recruiting scientists from all over the country - not just the three main universities - in the spring. Those that choose to go will be fully funded for a year or two and can get post-Ph.D. college credit for their work, Hagengruber said. "To start off, we'd like to get somewhere between 12 and 24 researchers to go," he said. "The ideal thing, because of the remote location, would be to get a husband-and-wife team that wants to be in Russia for a year or more." Funding for the program will come from Defense Threat Reduction Agency's $400 million budget, although the specific amount dedicated to it hasn't been released yet. It will probably be $4 million or more during the next three years, Zelicoff said. Return to Menu D. Cooperative Threat Reduction 1. RUSSIA-US VENTURE IN SNEZHINSK TO RELEASE FIRST PRODUCTS IN 2005 In Snezhinsk the legal formalities are in process to formalize the Russian-American conversion joint venture (JV) founded by JSC Spektr-Konversia on the Russian side and Numotech Inc. Corporation, Sandia National Laboratory and legal company MR Beal on the US side, Spektr-Konversia director general Anatoli Ivanov told Nuclear.Ru. The setting up of the joint venture was also announced on November 5 during the RF Minister of Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyantsev's visit to the USA. The JV is set up in frames of activities to reduce military programs and create jobs for the Russian personnel formerly involved in nuclear weapons complex. According to A. Ivanov, the JV will be located within the unrestricted access area of the closed city of Snezhinsk and use Russian technologies for developing specialized medical equipment of four types: pressure sores healing pillow, back support system, ammunition leg, oxygen bath system for healing burns. The US side allocates US$ 17 million for construction of the enterprise to be provided for by investment companies and individuals. Recently the US side formally notified Spektr-Konversia that the first US$ 10 million installment had been allocated. "Now it needs to be transferred to the JV bank account", Ivanov explained adding that to have it on the JV must be legally formalized, i.e. the JV statute must be duly registered, etc. The construction of process facilities is expected to start in spring 2004 and be carried out stage-by-stage for three years. "The first stage is to commission in spring 2005, i.e. a year after the construction has started JV is to release the first products", Ivanov said. He noted the products would not go to the Russian market because there is an arrangement that Numotech Inc. would purchase all produced items during the first five years. Ivanov also explained that Spektr-Konversia had not done a market study in Russia yet, however, the Russia hospitals did testing of the pilot products. Ivanov also said that in Snezhinsk the joint venture project is taken positively, for the JV is to create 400-500 additional jobs and be paying substantial cash amounts as taxes to the city budget. Return to Menu E. Multilateral Threat Reduction 1. CONTRACT SIGNED FOR STRENGTH STUDIES OF VVER-440 AND VVER-1000 RPVS The EuropeAid A5 Directorate of the European Commission has made a decision to sign the contract within the international project for technical support of Russia and Ukraine TACIS TAREG 2.01/00 which is to deal with a justification of methods for considering neutron embrittlement for purposes of the integrity analysis of VVER-1000 and VVER-440 reactor pressure vessels (RPV). Rosenergoatom's press-center informs the project customers are the Russia's Rosenergoatom and Ukraine's NAEC Energoatom. The studies of RPV strength characteristics are one of the main elements of safety justification of nuclear power units operation. This problem receives close attention of experts from a number of leading nuclear power states - the USA, Russia, France, Germany, the Great Britain. The project western contractor is the Joint Research Center - Institute for Energy at Petten of the Netherlands (EC-JRC/IE) with Russian and Ukrainian subcontractors being the JSC Diagnostic Center Diaprom (Moscow) and Association "Machines and Structures Reliability" (Kiev), correspondingly. Keeping to the European Commission procedures, the project organizers have held a series of meetings in Petten, Moscow and Kiev where they got familiarized with capabilities of the future participants: EC-JRC/IE, RRC Kurchatov Institute, JSC DC Diaprom, ISP of the Ukrainian AS. In the late October Prometei Institute held the kick-off meeting to finally agree the scope of responsibilities of the performers and completion dates of main work stages. The project is until the end of 2007. Its implementation, including experiments, will provide for more confident assessments of strength of VVER-1000 and VVER-440 reactor pressure vessels and help in developing measures to further improve safety of nuclear power plants with such reactors. Return to Menu 2. FOREIGN HELP NEEDED TO CONDUCT RUSSIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS DESTRUCTION PROGRAMS MOSCOW, November 11, 2003. /RIA Novosti correspondent Sergei Zelentsov/. Russia relies on financial help from the world community conducting its programs on destruction of chemical weapons. "Destruction of chemical weapons is not a problem of an individual state or even a group of states, but a global task," announced Deputy Director General of the Russian Munitions Agency Vyatcheslav Kulebyakin during a meeting of a forum dedicated to Russia's compliance with provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention. At present, he said, financial aid provided to Russia by Western countries to build chemical weapons destruction facilities is not enough. Mr. Kulebyakin stated that in 2003 all countries that are partners of Russia in the chemical weapons destruction program allocated less than one percent of the announced funds. He said that the United States promised to allocate US $200 million, however, so far it has put in only US $12 million. This year, Germany allocated about 30 million Euro for the construction of chemical weapons destruction facilities in the town of Kambarka (the Udmurt Republic, Volga federal region). The Netherlands allocated 2 million Euro. Poland and Czech republic participated with small amounts of US $100,000 each. "Russia is not satisfied with this situation," Mr Kulebyakin stressed. He mentioned as a positive development the signing of an agreement with Italy, which envisions the allocation of 360 million Euro for programs on destruction of chemical weapons in the course of five years. Return to Menu 3. ITALY ALLOCATING 360M EUROS FOR RUSSIAN NUCLEAR SUBMARINES' DISMANTLING Last week Italy and Russian signed an agreement about cooperation in the field of nuclear submarines dismantling and safe handling of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. The agreement includes projects on nuclear submarines, nuclear surface ships and service ships dismantling, reprocessing, transportation and storage of radioactive waste, creation of nuclear sites physical protection system, radiation sites rehabilitation, creation infrastructure for nuclear submarines dismantling. The Russian Atomic Ministry and the Italian Ministry of Productive Activities are responsible for the projects. All the Italian aid will get tax exemption in Russia. The agreement is valid for 10 years, and extends automatically for 2 years more if the parties do not cancel the agreement before its expiry. Return to Menu 4. RUSSIA AND GERMANY TO DEVELOP N-SUBS REACTOR COMPARTMENT STORAGE Experts from the Russian Research Center Kurchatov Institute and the German EWN-Energiewerke Nord have started developing a construction project of the on-shore storage facility for reactor compartments of nuclear submarines retired from the Russian NAVY Northern Fleet. ITAR-TASS reports referring to the Murmansk regional administration, the Saida Bay of the Barents Sea has been chosen as the construction site. Presently, the Saida Bay houses about fifty such de-fuelled nuclear reactor compartments while kept afloat. The agreement to cooperate in nuclear and radiation safety in Kola Peninsula was achieved at the state level under the "Global Partnership Against the Proliferation of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction" initiative launched by G8 leaders in Kananaskis in 2002. Germany is to allocate nearly 300 million euros to build the storage facility for 120 N-Sub reactor compartments. The construction of facility - one-in-its-kind in Russia - will start next spring to be completed in 2010. Return to Menu F. Strategic Arms Reduction 1. CABINET TO MAKE PUBLIC 2004 MILITARY BUDGET ELEMENTS MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 12 (RIA NOVOSTI) - The Russian government agreed to make public some elements of the 2004 military budget. Alexei Arbatov, deputy chairman of the State Duma defense committee, said to journalists on Wednesday that the government approved the amendments making public the financing of some items in the section Disposal and Elimination of Armaments, Including the Fulfillment of International Treaties. According to the deputy of the lower parliamentary chamber, it is planned to make public all relevant target budget elements and expenditures. "Earlier, only a half of expenses, 5.4 billion rubles, in this section were revealed and now the entire amount, 10.4 billion rubles (approximately 350 million dollars - ed.) were made public," Arbatov said. The government agreed to reveal in the 2004 budget the means, particularly, designed to fulfill the START-1 treaty and the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, as well as to dispose of multi-purpose nuclear submarines removed from Navy service, said Arbatov. Return to Menu G. Russia-Iran 1. IVANOV DISCUSSES IRAN`S NUCLEAR PROGRAMS WITH EUROPEAN LEADERS Moscow, Nov 13, IRNA -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in separate phone conversations with European politicians on Thursday, discussed Iran`s nuclear programs. According to Russian Foreign Ministry, Ivanov held separate telephone conversation with Foreign Minister of France Dominique de Villepin and Germany Joschka Fischer as well as the EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana on Wednesday. The politicians exchanged views on the critical situation in Iraq, the Middle East, the issue of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and Iran`s nuclear activities. Return to Menu 2. RUSSIA STRESS ON STRONG TIES WITH TEHRAN Moscow, Nov 13, IRNA -- Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksander Yakovenko here on Thursday stressed the high level of confidence that exists between Tehran and Moscow. Speaking to IRNA, Yakovenko said that discussion this week between Secretary of Iran`s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Hassan Rowhani and Russian official were satisfactory and constructive. The agreement on the prospect for relations and principles of cooperation between Tehran and Moscow signed between Mohammad Khatami and Vladimir Putin in 2001 has opened a new chapter in bilateral relations, he underlined. The two countries will continue bilateral and international cooperation, and are committed to multilateralism, dialogue among civilizations and resolving of issues based on international law and the central role of the UN. He said the two counties have solid potentials for expansion of collaboration in economic, transportation, and oil a gas sectors. He said the Russia has high regard for moratorium declared by Iran on its uranium enrichment activities, saying, "The decision will open up a wealth of opportunities for Iran for international cooperation." He said Tehran and Moscow are determined on issues relating to prospect for cooperation on international terrorism and regional and world security. The two sides have stressed on the principle of good neighborly relations and will cooperate on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan well as efforts to determine a legal regime for the Caspian Sea. "We attach importance to the our ties with Iran on combating terrorism and welcome Iran`s assistance in this regard. "Iran`s arrest of over 500 of al-Qaeda members points to Tehran`s resolve in its anti-terrorism policy," he added. He said Russia will abide by its commitments on the construction of Bushehr nuclear power plant nuclear saying `it will do its utmost to expedite its completion`. Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said no one could make Russia curtail nuclear cooperation program with Iran. Ivanov told journalists upon his arrival in Yerevan on Monday, "No one can make Russia to curtail its nuclear cooperation program with Iran. "I don`t believe that anyone can accuse Russia of proliferating weapons of mass destruction because of our cooperation with Iran in order to complete the construction of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr," Ivanov said. "Russia and the European Union (EU) have practically identical positions on Iran`s nuclear program and now we can consider this problem closed," the Russian minister said. He added, "Tehran said it stopped work with regard to its uranium enrichment program. IAEA inspectors will be able to check it on the spot. "Iran is ready to join the Additional Protocol with the IAEA on the return of spent fuel to Russia and get IAEA inspectors access to all its facilities without any restrictions. "Under these circumstances, it`s even theoretically impossible to suspect Iran of being unconscientious with regard to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Ivanov further said. Return to Menu 3. IRAN LASER PROGRAM SHOCKS EXPERTS Russia helps country with technology to enrich uranium pioneered by Livermore lab Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - When U.S. officials learned in the late 1990s that Iran's atomic scientists were shopping for the world's most sophisticated route to bomb-grade nuclear material, many government experts suggested Iran was welcome to waste its time. Despite plowing billions of dollars into a Lawrence Livermore lab technology using electron beams and lasers to enrich uranium, no industrialized nation actually built a commercial laser-enrichment factory. "People were saying, 'So Iran's pursuing laser enrichment? Ha-ha-ha, Let's let them do it,'" recalled David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector and enrichment expert. No one's laughing this week. In a confidential report Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran's atomic executives have acknowledged that they fired up a pilot laser-enrichment plant late last year and enriched tiny amounts of uranium to low levels. That's hardly the kilograms of highly enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon. But Iran's laser plant is a troubling achievement in the annals amounts of uranium to low levels. That's hardly the kilograms of highly enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon. But Iran's laser plant is a troubling achievement in the annals of weapons proliferation: A Middle Eastern theocracy engaged in missile purchases from North Korea managed to overcome nuclear export controls and acquire the smallest, most easily hidden method of making fuel for nuclear reactors. Or for nuclear weapons. "I think this will wake up people," Albright said. For years, weapons experts have worried that once less-developed states acquired key technologies for weapons of mass destruction, such as uranium enrichment, they would share among themselves, as Pakistan's nuclear scientists appear to have shared with their counterparts in North Korea. "If you've got people doing arms deals and missile trades, and they both have nuclear technology, I'd say sooner or later, the deal's going to be cut," said one U.S. expert on weapons materials. "Iran does not have vested security issues with North Korea and vice versa, so it's a neutral deal. It doesn't really threaten them. So it would be foolish for them to turn down the opportunity, depending on the cost." Iran's intent -- weapons or reactor fuel or both -- isn't clear and may have changed over time. The Vienna-based IAEA reported "serious concerns" over Iran's hiding of a large range of nuclear activities -- multiple imports of uranium gas and metal in the 1990s, construction of giant centrifuge cascades for enrichment, the pursuit of laser enrichment for at least 12 years and the separation of plutonium. "To date," the nuclear agency concluded, "there is no evidence that the previously undeclared material and activities ... were related to a nuclear weapons programme. However, given Iran's past pattern of concealment, it will take some time before the agency is able to conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes." What is clear is that Iran sought nuclear technologies around the world and often found them, despite a web of international agreements intended to stop the spread of nuclear arms. Joseph Cirincione, director of the nonproliferation program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Iran's advances in laser separation were "startling." "It exposes some gaping holes in the export control regime. And it exposes some complacency in our discussion about what approaches would-be proliferators would take," he said. "You have to wonder if this is the tip of the iceberg," said Charles Ferguson, scientist-in-residence for the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies. The nuclear agency's report does not disclose the nations that contributed to Iran's nuclear capability. But experts say the list is long -- Germany, Russia, China, South Africa and the United States, among others. "The Iranians shopped the world for stuff for their nuclear program," said Albright, president of the Alexandria, Va.-based Institute for Science and International Security. "Everyone was approached one way or another over the years." U.S. and Germany firms aided Iran's pursuit of laser enrichment in the mid- and late 1970s, before Islamic revolutionaries toppled the Shah of Iran, a U.S ally. A Berkeley-trained nuclear engineer, Jeff Eerkens, sold two lasers and vacuum chambers to Iran, through a U.S.-based import-export firm. The shipment touched down in Tehran, just as the revolution got under way, and sat in an airport warehouse. It was little more than a decade after the invention of the laser and during a period when Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos labs were exploring two laser technologies for uranium enrichment. Los Alamos worked on molecular laser isotopic separation -- firing a laser through a cloud of room-temperature uranium gas to selectively vibrate the molecules of U-235 and pull them away from the more numerous molecules of U-238. Livermore pursued atomic vapor laser isotopic separation, or AVLIS. It demands a high-temperature furnace, powered by an electron beam, to vaporize uranium metal inside a vacuum chamber. Laser beams shoot through the cloud of molten -- and chemically reactive -- uranium to energize U-235 atoms, changing their electrical charge so that they adhere to charged plates inside the chamber. It took 25 years and close to $2 billion for Livermore to perfect the two processes -- vaporization and laser separation -- then join them in a small, factory-scale plant to be copied by U.S. industry. San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. was to provide the final design for construction and operation by U.S. Enrichment Corporation (USEC). But by then, the United States was awash in surplus uranium and plutonium from its nuclear weapons program and the former Soviet Union's. USEC decided it could not justify building an expensive factory around a technology untried at commercial scale, to meet a market of meager demand. In 1991 and again in 1998, Iran contracted with South Africa and Russia for laser separation help. South Africa sent scientific advisers, and the D.V. Efremov Institute in St. Petersburg, a powerhouse of Soviet laser research in the Cold War, began supplying both information and AVLIS technology. When U.S. diplomats protested, the institute said its lasers were intended "only for medical, industrial and scientific purposes" in Iran. President Clinton personally lodged complaints with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin twice in 2000, and Russia finally agreed to freeze its AVLIS exports. But even as Iran was building and testing a more proven technology -- gaseous centrifuges -- its scientists built a laser-enrichment lab at Tehran Nuclear Research Center. When the Russian deal collapsed, Iran moved the work to a lab at Lashkar Ab'ad, where scientists were building and testing copper-vapor lasers, useful for isotopic separation. Last October, according to the IAEA, they started experiments with 22 kilograms of uranium metal, almost half of a 50-kilogram shipment that nongovernmental experts suspect came from the Soviet Union in 1993 and was never reported to the nuclear agency. According to the agency's report, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran first said its work on laser separation was limited to a research paper by a graduate student. On Oct. 21, however, Iran's atomic leaders admitted building the small plant and running experiments from October 2002 to January 2003 that produced milligrams of uranium enriched to reactor grade -- 3-4 percent U235. Western experts say those quantities are consistent with a research program, not a production facility. "You're probably looking at benchtop activities," said one U.S. expert. To start an enrichment factory, Iran would have to perfect an electron-beam furnace capable of sending large amounts of uranium vapor into the laser beam at near supersonic speeds. "It's very hard," said another U.S. expert. "First of all just creating large streams of uranium vapor is difficult." The difficulty increases as the uranium becomes more enriched and represents a risk of creating a critical mass. But once Iran has achieved 3 percent enrichment, reaching bomb-grade enrichment takes less time. Or, as Eerkens notes, Iran can just irradiate the low-enriched uranium in a nuclear reactor and harvest plutonium for bombs, as North Korea did. Eerkens and a U.S. exporter went to international court at The Hague to force Iran to pay for the lasers shipped in the Shah's regime. "They said in the name of Allah, the ayatollah said he doesn't need this," Eerkens said. "But when Iraq attacked Iran, I can see that their government saw they needed to have a policy change to protect themselves from Iraq. I think they began looking at it as a way to make weapons." Return to Menu 4. RUSSIA TO BOOST BUSHEHR NPP CONSTRUCTION, SAYS IRAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY TEHRAN, NOVEMBER 11 (RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT NIKOLAI TEREKHOV) - Russia has taken the decision to speed up the construction of the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, said Hassan Rouhani, secretary of the Iranian Supreme Council for National Security. In a conversation with reporters in Tehran's airport, he gave a positive estimate of the talks held in Moscow and noted Russia's readiness to get down to considering the construction of the second unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. As regards the declarations by some representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's mistakes in mastering nuclear technologies, Rouhani invited the IAEA Board of Governors, due to gather for a session on November 20, to be guided by technicalities and not to politicize the "Iranian dossier" problem. Return to Menu H. Russia-India 1. INDIA, RUSSIA SIGN 10 PACTS; FOCUS ON SECURITY, DEFENCE Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed 10 agreements following a Kremlin meeting on Wednesday. "The unique character of our strategic relationship is developing on every front," the Russian president said during a signing ceremony with Vajpayee in the Kremlin's ornate Malachite Hall. "Our approaches to the majority of international problems practically coincide," said Putin. "I understand this visit as an important step in the development of our relations." The two leaders signed a joint declaration on global challenges and threats to world security and stability, which puts the fights against terrorism, narcotics trafficking and organised crime at the centre of common concerns. The document says the United Nations should take the leading role in battling terror, but it also outlines joint steps that India and Russia will take together to "create an environment for total rejection of terrorism". The two countries have set up a joint working group to implement these measures, which would include efforts to deny sanctuary to terrorists anywhere in the world, cut off funding to groups that promote terror and create a stronger basis in international law for anti-terrorist actions. Bilateral defence cooperation has shown "great versatility" and is set to reach new heights, Vajpayee said. Among the many joint military projects under way is the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which recently underwent its fifth test. Russia and India have also agreed to jointly design an advanced "fifth generation" fighter plane. The two sides are currently in the final stages of negotiating a major package of Indian defence procurements from Russia, which include the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, leasing a number of Tupolev Tu-22 supersonic bombers and two Akula-class nuclear attack submarines. An agreement on non-military space cooperation signed on Wednesday will enable work on a joint satellite navigation project, Vajpayee said. Vajpayee said that he and Putin had agreed to monitor Indian participation in the $2-billion Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project "at the highest level, to ensure that it will be completed on time". The Indian prime minister added that work on the Kudankulam nuclear power station was progressing well. The 2000 MW power plant is being built with Russia assistance in Tamil Nadu. On Tuesday, Russia called for an end to US-inspired sanctions against India's civilian nuclear sector. On Thursday, Vajpayee will hold meetings with the Indian business community in Russia, before leaving for an official visit to Tajikistan. Return to Menu 2. RUSSIA, INDIA WELCOME ENERGY SECURITY FORUM MOSCOW, November 12, 2003 (RIA Novosti) -- Russia and India have welcomed the initiative of holding a forum on energy security. The forum will provide an opportunity to consider regularly this problem and elaborate common approaches to stable and reliable energy future meeting mutual interests, reads the joint statement issued following the Russian-Indian summit in Moscow. The sides were satisfied with the progress in the implementation of the project to construct a nuclear power station in Kudankulam. They also considered the possibility of expanding cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Return to Menu I. Russia-Israel 1. RUSHAILO MEETS HEAD OF ISRAELI NUCLEAR ENERGY COMMITTEE MOSCOW, November 12, 2003. (RIA Novosti correspondent Olga Semenova) - On Wednesday, Vladimir Rushailo, secretary of the Russian Security Council, and Gideon Frank, general secretary of the Israeli Nuclear Energy Committee, have discussed WMD non-proliferation issues in the Kremlin, the press service of the Russian Security Council told RIA Novosti. "Alongside the non-proliferation issues, the sides have discussed bilateral cooperation and join efforts against international terrorism," the press service said. The meeting was held in line with the agreement reached on November 3 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Return to Menu J. Russia-North Korea 1. MOSCOW AND PYONGYANG CONFIRM PREPAREDNESS FOR SEEKING SOLUTION TO KOREA'S NUCLEAR PROBLEM MOSCOW, November 13. /RIA Novosti correspondent/. Preparations for the second round of the six-member talks on the nuclear issue involving North Korea were discussed Thursday in Moscow at a meeting between Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Losyukov and North Korean Ambassador in Moscow Pak Ui Chun, the information and press department of Russia's Foreign Ministry reported. "Both sides have stressed readiness to conduct a constructive search for a fair and mutually acceptable solution, which would lead to ensuring a nuclear-free status of the peninsula, provided the security of all states in the region, including North Korea, are guaranteed and favorable conditions are created for their social and economic development," the Foreign Ministry report said. Return to Menu 2. RUSSIA PREPARES PROPOSALS FOR SECOND ROUND OF TALKS ON NORTH KOREA MOSCOW, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is preparing proposals for the second round of negotiations on North Korea, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov. "We ourselves are analyzing the situation, we have specific proposals on some aspects of the possible agreement between the sides," said Losyukov. "But we would not like our proposals to prevent other sides, in the first place the USA and the DPRK, from putting forth any other ideas," underscored the deputy minister. "In our preparations for the negotiations we shall orient ourselves to the ideas which will proposed by two main sides - Washington and Pyongyang, and seek a possibility for points of contact between them," said the diplomat. As to adopting a document that would fix the intermediate agreements in the course of the second round, Losyukov said that "it would be very good to achieve agreements, but negotiations are just a chance to talk about such a decision." Return to Menu 3. RUSSIA TO CONSULT U.S. AND CHINA BEFORE NORTH KOREA TALKS MOSCOW, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - In November, Russia will meet with China and the U.S. to prepare for the second round of negotiations with North Korea, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov. "In the next few days, we will have a number of meetings. On November 17-18, we are meeting with the Chinese in Beijing and after November 20, we will discuss the North Korean problem in Washington," said Losyukov. According to Losyukov, Russia knows Washington's position on North Korea, as it has been discussed during multiple meetings. "But in this case details are very important," said the deputy minister. "These meetings will be good preparation for the second round of the six-sided negotiations," said Losyukov. He also said that Russia has also met with North Korea. "We have studied Pyongyang's position, we know what the DPRK awaits from the negotiations and what proposals it would like to advance," said Alexander Losyukov. "Now it is for negotiations to decide," said the deputy minister. Return to Menu K. Russian Nuclear Industry 1. ANTON BADENKOV APPOINTED RF DEPUTY MINISTER OF ATOMIC ENERGY The RF Chairman of the Government Mikhail Kasianov has appointed Anton Yurievich Badenkov the Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation of Atomic Energy. The Governmental Information Department reports the corresponding order № 1619-r was signed November 4, 2003. As Nuclear.Ru was explained by Minatom of Russia official, Mr. Badenkov would take the position, which had become vacant after deputy minister E. Antipenko was appointed the first deputy minister superseding V. Vinogradov who resigned in November 2002. New deputy minister is expected to oversee the industry’s finance and property. Before the appointment Mr. Badenkov was the vice-president of JSC TVEL. He is a member of the board of the corporate enterprises: JSC Priargunskoye Production, Mining and Chemical Association, JSC Chepetsk Mechanical Plant, and JSC Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant. Return to Menu 2. FLOATING NPP EXPORT CONDITIONED BY REFERENCE UNIT IN RUSSIA The Rosenergoatom 2004 Investment Program foresees funds for implementing the project of a small-power floating nuclear co-generation plant. Now the program, which is to be approved by the RF Government in this December, is under review and concurrence process in the Ministry of Economy and Development, the Ministry of Energy and the Federal Energy Commission. This was stated by Alexander Polushkin, the first deputy director for development of Rosenergoatom Concern at the 3rd science-and-practice conference “Small-Power Generation-2003” opened in Obninsk on November 12. Answering the Nuclear.Ru question about the progress in negotiations with Indonesia on the floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) as well as with China regarding possible finding of the FNPP project implementation, Polushkin noted “all that deals with Indonesia, Thailand, North Africa, Persian Gulf may be termed as “unindifferent curiosity”, which is reflected in documents and protocols so far”. He also explained that the main condition of FNPP project implementation in other countries was the construction of a reference nuclear unit in Russia, i.e. the real plant which has achieved the design characteristics and parameters while complying with nuclear and radiation safety requirements. As of China, Polushkin says, the country is not for buying electricity or heat or desalinated water but acts as a possible investor and project participant at the construction stage. Rosenergoatom’s development director gave an example of the building of two low-draught ships Taimyr and Vaigach, which were operating by the Murmansk Shipping Company and had been built with the assistance of the Finnish partners: the icebreaker hulls were built by Finns with the nuclear power installations finalized by Baltiisky Zavod in Russia. “Such cooperation demonstrated that it is viable and effective”, Polushkin stressed adding that China proposed to repeat this experience when constructing floating nuclear power plants. Polushkin also said China possessed necessary welding and weld inspection technologies and techniques to control quality of manufacturing of the ship systems and hulls, therefore, it could be the partner, actually, the contractor of the Russia’s leading ship-building yard Sevmash where the pilot FNPP was planning to build. At such Polushkin noted that Russia, in principle, did not need China’s technical support. “We are capable of building the facility by ourselves from the beginning to end, he said. “However, we are negotiating with China for it is ready to credit the project at very favorable conditions for us”. The credit decision must be made at the level of intergovernmental agreements. In September 2003 in Beijing the Russian and Chinese Prime Ministers signed the protocol which, as Polushkin says, directed Minatom of Russia to study into the issue and submit the proposals to the government. Return to Menu 3. RUTA COULD LAUNCH A NEW INDUSTRY – “NUCLEAR DISTRICT HEATING” The construction of a nuclear district heating plant (NDHP) based on the reactor installation RUTA could become the start of a new industry trend – “nuclear district heating”, Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE) director general Anatoly Zrodnikov said addressing the science-and-practice conference “Small-Power Generation-2003” held in Obninsk. The design of district heating nuclear plant with atmospheric pressure (RUTA) has been developing jointly by IPPE (scientific support) and NIKIET (chief designer) for a decade already. The simple facility design accounts for one order lower cost per installed kilowatt of electricity than all facilities pertaining to other classes. In 2002 under the Obninsk-Science City Development Program the feasibility study was done to find out about prospects of converting the city district heating from natural gas to nuclear which would use NDHP RUTA. According to Zrodnikov, the feasibility assessment shows that such plant is “positively cost-effective” with further growth of its cost-effectiveness as fossil fuel prices predictably climbing up. The project cost is US$ 14.7 million with payback time of 10 years and design lifetime of 50 years. Elaborating on the current progress with the project, Zrodnikov said a state-of-the-art standard design of the installation was planned to complete in 2004. Beside IPP and NIKIET the activity is to involve Atomenergoproekt as chief architect responsible for the whole plant layout. It is assumed that is the standard design is in place the issue can go up to the construction of a pilot NDHP of the series to follow. Zrodnikov believes that the most suitable site is in IPPE for “the city of Obninsk has everything necessary including the science that is to finalize the plant”. He also said that if the standard design were in place, it would take just one year to “tie it up” to any specific location and one more year to build the plant because nearly all factory-manufactured components can be assembled on site. Return to Menu 4. PUTIN SIGNS LAW ON USE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY MOSCOW, November 12 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed to law amendments to a federal law on use of nuclear energy. A spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Ministry told Itar-Tass on Wednesday that the amendments concern the ownership of radiation sources, radioactive substances and radioactive waste that have no defence importance. The amended law lays down rights or termination of rights for the ownership of such materials and requirements for deals on them Return to Menu 5. SPECIAL COMMISSION TO STUDY INTO VOLGODONSK-1 DISCONNECTION November 7 at 12H41M the emergency protection was triggered at the generator of Volgodonsk nuclear power unit one to disconnect the unit from the grid. The reactor power was reduced down to zero. As Nuclear.Ru was informed by Volgodonsk nuclear plant information service, a special commission consisting of experts from Rosenergoatom, vendors of equipment, and the plant had been set up to investigate into the event. The Commission member - deputy chief engineer of Volgodonsk nuclear plant for safety and reliability Vladimir Pivovarov informed that a short circuit had occurred in 500 kV transmission line "NPP-Tikhoretskaya". The unit safety systems functioned as designed and the reactor was scrammed. Neither of 19 detectors of the automated radiation situation monitoring system (ARSMS) located in residing areas of Volgodonsk satellite-city, Dubovsky, Tsymliansky and Volgodonsky regions registered excess of radiation level. The preliminary commission conclusion is that the main cause of disruption was the short circuit in the generator's excitation coil. When the repair of the generator's excitation coil is over the application to connect Volgodonsk-1 to the Northern Caucasus power grid will be submitted to the utility - Rosenergoatom - and Gosatomnadzor of Russia. Return to Menu 6. "SMALL-POWER GENERATION-2003" CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN OBNINSK The annual science-and-practice conference "Small-Power Generation-2003" would be held November 12-13 in Obninsk, as Nuclear.Ru was informed by JSC Malaya Energetika press-service. The conference is supported by Minatom of Russia, the RF Ministry of Energy, Rosenergoatom Concern, RAO EES of Russia, Gosstroi of Russia, Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is to accommodate over 150 experts from 70 organizations and companies of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. The plenary agenda is to include presentations, in particular, on fuel and energy generation problems in Russia's regions and the role of small-power generation in solving them, and on the project of the pilot small-power capacity based on the floating nuclear power plant with KLT-40S reactor installation in the city of Severodvinsk. The conference will include a round-table discussion of investments and legal bases as regards the small-power generation. The section meetings will dwell on designs and facilities associated with nuclear power and small-power generation. Over 70 presentations were submitted to the conference. Return to Menu 7. ROSENERGOATOM INVESTIGATING INTO VOLGODONSK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT STALL ROSTOV-ON-DON, November 11, 2003. (RIA Novosti correspondent Sofya Brykanova) - A commission of the Rosenergoatom concern has started work to investigate into the stall of Volgodonsk's nuclear power plant, the Information and Analysis Centre of the plant reported. The commission is looking into the causes of the reactor's halt and working out measures to settle the matter and avert similar emergencies in the future, head of the centre Viktor Bashkatov specified. According to Bashkatov, background radiation inside the plant and within the 30-km zone around it is normal. Preliminarily, the reason is that an automatic protection system in the electrical unit of the plant snapped into action, which is not directly connected with the reactor, Bashkatov elaborated. The reactor of the Volgodonsk nuclear power plant stalled on November 7th, after a short circuit in the high-voltage power transmission line the plant feeds. As it is impossible to supply energy to nowhere, the plant stalled, a spokesman for Rosenergoatom said today. The unscheduled outage was used to "inspect the generator, which revealed some minor defects". It will take 10 days to rectify these, Rosenergoatom reports. Return to Menu L. Official Statements 1. MEETING WITH HASSAN ROHANI, SECRETARY OF THE SUPREME NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL OF IRAN, MOSCOW, THE KREMLIN, NOVEMBER 10, 2003 As a full participant in the international community, Iran has the right to develop its nuclear programs in accordance with international rules and regulations, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Hassan Rohani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. Russia sees no obstacles for cooperation with Iran in the nuclear sector. The President said he welcomed the latest agreements reached during the recent visit to Teheran by the foreign ministers of four European countries. Mr Putin accepted an invitation by Iranian President Seyed Mohammad Khatami to visit Iran. Return to Menu 2. STATEMENT BY ALEXANDER RUMYANTSEV, RUSSIAN MINISTER OF ATOMIC ENERGY, IN THE UNITED NATIONS FIRST COMMITTEE ON DISARMAMENT AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 5, 2003 MFA 11.11.2003 Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, First of all, let me thank you for the honor accorded me to speak jointly with the US Energy Secretary, Mr. Abraham, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of United States President Dwight Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" Address to the UN General Assembly. At that time, at the dawn of the atomic era, he spoke for nuclear weapons to be removed from soldiers' hands and turned over to those who would know how to use atoms for peaceful purposes. Only then, he said, "can this greatest of destructive forces be developed into a great boon for the benefit of all mankind." In development of this thesis, Eisenhower proposed that an international atomic energy agency should be set up under the aegis of the United Nations. The agency, in his opinion, should attract talented scientists from all countries of the world to study the methods of using atomic energy for peaceful purposes. A special purpose, he assumed, "would be to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world. Thus the contributing powers would be dedicating some of their strength to serve the needs rather than the fears of mankind." The launching of the world's first nuclear plant, of 5 MW capacity, in Obninsk, Russian Federation was actually a response to Dwight Eisenhower's appeal to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The impact of this event on further nuclear power development had a many times greater effect than this plant's capacity itself. The spread of nuclear technologies across the world began to pick up speed rapidly. In the atom's energy many saw the path of swift industrial development and the achievement of a high technological level. A testimony to this was the Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, in which about 1,500 scientists and specialists from 73 countries took part. It considered energy requirements of individual countries and the role which atomic energy was going to play within the coming decades. Nuclear reactor types were discussed, along with nuclear safety, the production of isotopes and other themes, many of which, but now in a new quality are being discussed at present too. In 1956 Kurchatov in his speech at Harwell, United Kingdom, for the first time described the research being carried out in the Soviet Union on the possibility of using thermonuclear processes for electricity generation, which can be regarded as the beginning of international cooperation in this field. In 1957, that is four years after the proposal made from the UN rostrum, the International Atomic Energy Agency became a reality. Today this is a respected and authoritative organization ensuring the international nuclear weapons nonproliferation regime and the safe development of nuclear power. The short chronology of the initial period shows that given a goodwill and purposefulness aimed at solving common problems, impressive results can be achieved. Today the world, despite the fact that we have moved sufficiently far away from the moment of the end of the Cold War, when it teetered on the brink of total nuclear destruction, has not become safer, for there have appeared new dangers and challenges. Today we have to talk about the real possibility of WMD and related materials and technologies getting into the hands of international terrorists. We are convinced that the answer to the new challenges is the active joint work of all the countries on a solid foundation of international law, the preservation and strengthening of the regime of international treaties and the consolidation of strategic stability on the basis of blending the various approaches to resolving the contradictions that exist. In this system of measures, in our view, an effective international instrument for containing the threat of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and a major factor of ensuring regional and global stability was and remains the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the NPT, of 1970, to which practically all the countries of the world are parties today. It is currently undergoing not easy trials. That is why Russia attaches exceptional importance to the preparatory process for the 2005 Review Conference. We are convinced that this process should be comprehensively used with a view to finding solutions to existing questions to strengthen both the Treaty itself and the international nonproliferation regime as a whole. The ratification this past May, both in Russia and the USA, of the Russian-American Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions and its practical implementation to reduce the nuclear warheads currently at each country's disposal to 1,700-2,200 by December 31, 2012, demonstrate our commitment to nuclear disarmament. Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, Marking the fiftieth anniversary of Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" address, we can say that today too energy provision for man's functioning is a key factor of his well-being. People's quality of life and the degree of economic development are determined by the level of energy consumption and, in particular, that of electricity. Yet the per-capita gap in energy provision between individual regions of the world still remains very considerable. Moreover, taking into account world population growth and the predicted economic development, primarily in the developing countries, a steep rise in demand for electricity is inevitable. At the same time the growth of world fuel and energy requirements, with the resource and ecological limitations of traditional power, gives urgency to the timely preparation of a new power technology capable of taking upon itself a substantial part of the increase in energy needs. In this situation it appears to us that the use of nuclear energy can and should be the basis for building a power system ensuring sustainable, environmentally safe, economically beneficial and socially acceptable development and improvement in all areas of human activity in the 21st century. Nuclear power is already a technically developed and time-tested branch of power technology, holding a noticeable place in world electric power production - about 16 percent. Its further large-scale development depends both on further progress in ensuring its safety, enhancing its competitiveness, solving the problems of resource supply and radioactive waste management and on the ability of the world nuclear community to correctly inform the public about the state of nuclear power. The conduct of extensive research and development work, which is designed to ensure large-scale nuclear power development, should be accomplished within the framework of effective international cooperation. Three years ago, at the Millennium Summit here, at the UN, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin came up with an initiative for the provision of energy for the sustainable development of humanity, for a cardinal solution of the problems of nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and for ecological improvement on the Earth. This initiative rests on the need to provide humanity with a long-term supply of energy by a safe and ecologically acceptable method and the need to prevent its use for the purpose of creating nuclear weapons. This initiative is currently being implemented within the framework of the IAEA's International Project on Innovative Reactors and Fuel Cycles, known as INPRO, and the Generation IV International Project, initiated by the US. A significant event of this year in international cooperation on nuclear and radiation security was, undoubtedly, the March Conference on Security of Radioactive Sources, organized in Vienna by the joint efforts of the Agency, Russia and the US. The growth and globalization of the terrorist threat sets us the task of excluding the slightest possibility of radioactive materials getting into terrorist hands. We reaffirm our readiness to follow the recommendations set forth in the finalized Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources. Another aspect of the security problem is the continuing increase in the world of stocks of spent nuclear fuel from research reactors and reactors of nuclear generating stations. According to IAEA data, over the existence of nuclear power more than 200,000 tons of irradiated nuclear fuel has been accumulated in the world. Annually this figure is now increasing by 10,000 tons. For a number of years now, specialists have been drawing attention to the necessity to search for a rational and safe method (or methods) of spent fuel handling. As of now, this task, in consequence of its extensiveness and relevance to virtually every region, has moved into the category of urgent global tasks. It appears that the time is ripe for a uniting of the efforts of different countries to solve this task common to us. The construction in the long term under IAEA auspices of several large international SNF handling centers fitted with state-of-the-art technologies and the appropriate physical protection can ensure the fulfillment of nuclear and radiation security requirements and contribute to strengthening the global regime for nuclear nonproliferation. We are ready for such cooperation. We also are developing cooperation with many countries of the world in the fields of the conversion of our nuclear weapons complex and the disposition of decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines. The United States, Japan and the European Union remain our principal partners. A constant concern is the coordination of international cooperation in Russia with respect to nuclear materials accounting, control and physical protection. In this connection it is difficult to overestimate the significance in the present-day situation of the coordination of the international efforts to eliminate the risks of nuclear terrorism. In the light of the decisions adopted by the G8 leaders this year at Evian, we shall seek the universalizing of the principles earlier endorsed in Kananaskis by the leaders of the G8 countries, aimed at preventing access for terrorists or their backers to weapons of mass destruction. We shall continue to cooperate with all the concerned countries, since we are certain that nuclear power is the first of the known large-scale power technologies which allows us time for a respite and gives us a chance to win in the race of mankind with the degradation of the environment, inevitable when using organic resources. It carries with it new practical possibilities of cognition and management of the world and provides new human development models. Thank you for your attention. Return to Menu 3. TRANSCRIPT OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IGOR IVANOV REMARKS AT PRESS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING TALKS WITH SECRETARY OF IRAN'S SUPREME NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL HASAN ROWHANI 2564-10-11-2003 Esteemed ladies and gentlemen. We are glad to greet the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran in Moscow. Just now the Honorable Mr. Secretary was received by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. During the conversation important questions of bilateral cooperation, as well as pressing international problems were considered. We attach great importance to the fact that the Honorable Mr. Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran at his meeting with the President of Russia announced the decision of the Iranian leadership to sign an additional protocol to its IAEA Safeguards Agreement, and from today suspend uranium enrichment. That these statements were made in Moscow, at a meeting with the President of Russia, underlines the high degree of cooperation and mutual trust between our countries and of coordination of our efforts on the international scene. Russia presumes that the implementation of these decisions by the Iranian leadership will remove the concerns of the international community regarding Iran's nuclear programs and will open up additional possibilities for cooperation with Iran in various areas, including in the nuclear field. In discussing global problems special attention was devoted to efforts in the combating of international terrorism. An appropriate agreement has been signed between our countries, and working groups have been established. As Mr. Secretary has noted, the Iranian leadership intends to continue to fight international terrorism. The very fact that it has been in Iran that more than 500 Al-Qaida members have been arrested indicates that this work is being carried out in practice. It was also agreed to continue to coordinate our efforts in the interest of resolving the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq and of dealing with questions linked to the status of the Caspian Sea. A keen mutual interest was expressed in the further expansion of bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Mr. Secretary confirmed the invitation to the President of Russia to pay a visit to Iran. This invitation was accepted with gratitude. We shall actively work on the content of this visit to ensure that it becomes an important step in the development of our bilateral cooperation. Return to Menu 4. TRANSCRIPT OF SECRETARY ABRAHAM AND RUSSIAN ATOMIC ENERGY MINISTER RUMYANTSEV AT ANNOUNCEMENT OF JOINT STATEMENT ON FUEL RETURN Ambassador Linton Brooks: Good morning and thank you for coming. This event is the fruition of many hours of close collaboration between the Department of Energy and our Russian counterparts. Shortly after September of 2001, it became apparent to Secretary Abraham and Minister Rumyantsev that cooperative nonproliferation would be an essential tool to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. And for two years, the two Ministers have made these programs a high priority. The payoffs have been considerable. For example, some programs have been advanced a full two years because of their leadership. One area where it has become apparent that more work is needed concerns highly enriched uranium at research reactors throughout the world. This material is vulnerable to threat of sabotage and could be tempting to terrorists. And the Statement of Intent being signed today brings us closer to reducing the global stockpile of easily available weapons-usable material. It's now my pleasure to introduce a man who is a scientist, a diplomat, and a partner, the Minister of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation, the Honorable Aleksandr Rumyantsev. MINISTER RUMYANTSEV [Interpreted from Russian]: Thank you very much, my dear friends, Secretary Abraham, the Ambassador. I'm very glad to have this opportunity to speak to you once again, and I had this chance last year. We've done a lot of useful activity together jointly with my friend, Secretary Abraham. In March this year, under the auspices of the IAEA, we convinced--we held the international conference regarding the open(?) nuclear radioactive sources, and this international conference called the community, the world community, to pay more attention to such sources in order for proper handling and disposition of these sources. The view of nuclear reactors is also a very serious topic from the point of view of nuclear fissile material, accounting, control, and physical protection. Most of the research reactors really use the fuel, the material, which could be used by terrorists for their own purposes to--for their own purposes. Well, together with Department of Energy and under the auspices of the IAEA, we conducted the confidential operation with regard to removal of fresh fuel from research reactor in Vinca, which is located in Serbia Montenegro. Today we are going to make forward a very important step, and we are going to sign the joint statement regarding the irradiated fuel from research reactor, and this will be the basis for the signing of the government-to-government agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States. These types of reactors were constructed in the Eastern European countries and in CIS countries. Due to the political or economic reasons in these countries, they have to remove this material, and now we are looking into the future in order to prevent all the unexpected events regarding the involvement of these materials or the fact that such materials may be obtained by the terrorists. I do believe that the audience which is here is involved in the very sensitive area of activity. And I would like to wish you success, and I would like that the nuclear power will lead us only to the progress and not some tragic events against which we are partner for. Thank you very much for your attention. Ambassador Linton Brooks: And now it's my pleasure to introduce a man who in the past three years has become a symbol both of strong support for nonproliferation and of the new relationship that the two Presidents are forging between the United States and the Russian Federation, Secretary of Energy, the Honorable Spencer Abraham. SECRETARY ABRAHAM: Thank you. First, I'm very pleased to be here today with my friend and colleague and partner, Minister Aleksandr Rumyantsev, as we take another important step forward in our cooperative efforts to reduce global stockpiles of weapons-usable nuclear materials. I want to just take one moment to express personal thanks to the people at MinAtom and the Department of Energy who work on these programs. To our Russian guests who are here today I say thank you. Please pass to your colleagues in MinAtom our appreciation for the extensive time and commitment and hard work that goes into these programs. And for our team here at the Department of Energy, both the folks who work here in Washington and our team in Moscow, Andrew and all of your team, I want to also say thanks for the hard work that went into this trip and all of the projects we work on. The accomplishments which Minister Rumyantsev and I are so proud of are ones that have been achieved because of your collective efforts. This is not easy work, but it's extremely important work. And we are grateful for your commitment to address these problems as successfully as you have. The joint statement which we are signing today reaffirms our commitment to the common objective of reducing and, to the extent possible, ultimately eliminating the use of highly enriched uranium in civil nuclear activity by returning to Russia all of Russian-origin HEU scattered throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union. This joint statement commits us to develop a schedule by the end of the year for the completion of this program. Our two countries began developing this new program with the IAEA in December 1999, when we first planned for the transfer of fresh and irradiated HEU currently stored at foreign research reactors back to the Russian Federation, where it originated. We are focusing our efforts on repatriating Russian-supplied fuel for more than 20 research reactors in 17 countries. Moreover, we plan to convert these targeted research reactors so that they use low-enriched uranium instead of HEU. Our efforts are well under way. Just recently, in September, Russia accepted approximately 14 kilograms of fresh Russian-origin HEU from Romania. And before that, as Minister Rumyantsev said, we successfully retrieved fuel from the Vinca reactor. We have nearly completed preparations for the next shipment of fresh HEU fuel from another country, as well as for our first shipment of spent HEU fuel from Uzbekistan to Russia. And our governments have completed negotiations on a bilateral agreement under which more than a dozen other countries will become eligible to ship their fresh and spent research reactor fuel to Russia for safe and secure disposition. I am delighted to report that this agreement will soon be finalized and signed, and our governments intend to conduct bilateral consultations between MinAtom and DOE to develop a schedule for all remaining potential shipments of fresh and irradiated HEU fuel. This goal of minimizing international commerce in HEU has long been a pillar of U.S. nonproliferation policy. And this program exemplifies the strength of the U.S.-Russian Federation partnership to reduce the threat of terrorism and prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, this program inaugurates an important initiative to close a major gap in previous efforts to consolidate HEU dispersed around the world. This advance in our efforts is the result of recent years of broad cooperation on a number of fronts to improve and accelerate our program to reduce global stockpiles of weapons-usable nuclear materials. I'd like to just highlight a few of the key accomplishments of this cooperative effort: We've accelerated the timeline for completing the security upgrades for protecting weapons-usable nuclear material in Russia from 2010 to 2008, two full years. We have already secured nearly half of this material located at over 55 sites in Russia and the Newly Independent States. We've secured 78 percent of the Russian Navy sites, and we are also securing at-risk warheads at 20 percent of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces sites. We have employed 13,000 former weapons scientists at 180 institutes across the former Soviet Union in non-military, commercial pursuits. The projects attracted $125 million in private sector matching contributions and $96 million in venture capital. We are shutting down Russia's last three reactors still producing plutonium, replacing those reactors with fossil fuel plants. As Minister Rumyantsev said, we called for and co-chaired a major international conference earlier this year in Vienna on improving the security of high-risk, undersecured radioactive sources throughout the world. These sources could be used for the development of radiological dispersal devices or dirty bombs, and the conference was attended by 140 nations and resulted in recommendations to secure those materials, which are already under way. And the list goes on and on and will continue to go on and on, because these programs are important and because we are committed to working together for their successful completion. I look forward to our continued joint work on these important endeavors. It is clear that we are building momentum for these cooperative programs to eliminate the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction on many fronts. And the agreement we are about to sign, if I ever finish this speech--will be yet another step forward in that effort. Thank you all very much. SECRETARY ABRAHAM: We would be happy to take a couple of questions from the media who are here, but I'm not quite sure where, because of the lights, the press members are. So if there are any questions, I'll let Jeanne Lopatto maybe sort of stage-manage that effort. And if there aren't any questions, that's okay, too. MR. : I just want to be absolutely clear. This isn't the agreement itself governing the return of the fuel. It's an intention to sign that agreement and a statement that agreement will be signed. SECRETARY ABRAHAM: We already have been operating--as we both indicated, we've already been doing, on a case-by-case basis doing some of these projects. But our intent in giving the government-to-government agreement is to put in place a broader mechanism so that we can speed up that process and have a framework for moving a number of these programs ahead more quickly. MR. : Okay. So the case-by-case method that's been used in the past in Vinca and in Romania won't be necessary once this agreement is signed? SECRETARY ABRAHAM: Right. You know, that has at least allowed us to begin the process, but we think a government-to-government agreement allows us to move more quickly in the future and within an agreed-upon framework. And I think it will really allow us to do this work much quicker. MR. : [inaudible, off microphone]. What is the status [inaudible] financial arrangement? SECRETARY ABRAHAM: I think all of the components are pretty close to final agreement. There's obviously some additional interagency clearances that need to be accomplished to get concurrence on both sides from all of the relevant agencies that participate in or sign off on these agreements. I don't know if you wish to— MINISTER RUMYANTSEV [Interpreted from Russian]: As Secretary Abraham mentioned, we are trying to speed up our cooperation in this area. So today we signed a joint statement not to lose time and start the activity exactly in time. I do believe that this government-to-government agreement will be signed at the end of November or early December. MINISTER RUMYANTSEV [Interpreted from Russian]: With regard to research reactor (?) , it lies within several tenths of kilograms up to 100 kilograms. With regard to the fuel, it will be used for the nuclear power plants, and irradiated fuel, after (?) chemical reprocessing, will be involved in the electricity generation. The radioactive waste will be (?)-itrified and will be disposed of at specific sites, storage facilities. THE INTERPRETER: I'll translate for everyone. Does this agreement mean that the states from territories of which this research reactor fuel will be removed will be denied the opportunity to do any research, whether it will be application type research or fundamental research in the nuclear area? MINISTER RUMYANTSEV [Interpreted from Russian]: Well, if there is a governmental decision to close nuclear centers, that is the case for Vinca nuclear center, then these nuclear centers will be closed, and from Vinca we'll move to fresh fuel and spent nuclear fuel. With regard to Uzbekistan fuel, we are going to remove the fuel which is stored in the storage facilities of the nuclear center, and this particular nuclear center in Uzbekistan will be involved in fundamental and applied research activity. We are trying to reduce the threat of proliferation and eliminate any possibility that such material could be obtained by the terrorists. SECRETARY ABRAHAM: I would just add that, first of all, the host governments are obviously involved in these programs, in these efforts. Second, they recognize the threat that exists as much as we do. Third, we're prepared to help supply them with alternative fueling source for their--of the less dangerous sort for the reactors. So we're not mandating that people go out of the research business, only that they do it in a way that's safer. And that varies from country to country. In some cases, the program is no longer an active one or a very active one, and the decision has been made not to continue the work. But the fuel remains dangerous and exposed. MR. : All right. Thank you all. Return to Menu M. Links 1. REMARKS AT THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DINNER: “THE CONTINUING THREAT OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION” Return to Menu 2. UNCLASSIFIED REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE ACQUISITION OF TECHNOLOGY RELATING TO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND ADVANCED CONVENTIONAL MUNITIONS, 1 JANUARY THROUGH 30 JUNE 2003. Return to Menu 3. A COMMENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL NON-PROLIFERATION SYSTEM: FROM TACTICAL STABILITY TO STRATEGIC INSTABILITY - IS UN AND IAEA REFORM A POSSIBLE SOLUTION? 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@ransac.org |
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