 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2/6/12 |
 |
||||||||
|
 |
Home / Publications / News |
|
||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
RANSAC Nuclear News, July 29, 2003 Compiled By: Billy Magnuson A. Nuclear Cities Initiative
 A. Nuclear Cities Initiative 1. US Seeking Revision of 2 Nuclear Security Agts with Russia U.S. Administration has no plans of slashing cooperation with Russia in nuclear security and non-proliferation, but it thinks they sides should review the agreements regulating that activity, Brian Wilkes, a spokesman for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, told reporters. He indicated that the U.S. Department of Energy hoped to continue contacts with the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry and to settle eventually all the issues pertaining to legal responsibility of the sides. The U.S. is seeking a revision of an intergovernmental agreement on utilizing excessive weapons-grade plutonium and the so-called Nuclear Cities initiative, Wilkes indicated. Russia and the U.S. signed both documents, effective over a period of five years, in 1998, but their prolongation has not been possible so far as the U.S. is insisting that American experts be relieved of any responsibility while working on those projects. Some Congressmen and independent experts have urged the White House to prolong the documents for at least a year and to continue talks with Russia at the same time. The U.S. Department of Energy says it is unwilling to break up cooperation with Russian counterparts, too, but it resolutely insists that certain provisions of the two documents be revised. The weapons-grade plutonium agreement envisions that each side must downgrade 34 tons of plutonium into fuel for nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Cities program stipulates U.S. aid for converting the Russian defense industries to civilian manufacturing, as well as for providing jobs to the specialists becoming redundant in the process of conversion. Return to Menu 2. Liability Issues Threaten Nuclear Security Programs U.S. Seeking Better Terms in 2 Agreements With Russia The Bush administration has decided not to renew two U.S.-Russian agreements that form the basis for cooperative efforts to cut plutonium stockpiles and keep Russia's nuclear weapons material -- and expertise -- out of terrorists' hands. The administration wants stronger liability protections than the 10-year-old agreements provide for U.S. agencies and contractors that work in Russia on the security projects. It is trying to negotiate new terms. The decision not to renew the agreements may provide leverage to get the Russians to accept new terms. The impasse threatens to derail two programs that send Russia hundreds of millions of dollars to secure nuclear material and employ weapons scientists in peaceful jobs. President Bush has hailed those efforts as a key tool to prevent enemy states and terrorist groups from obtaining nuclear arms -- or luring cash-strapped Russian scientists to help them. ''This is a big deal,'' says one administration official who is involved in the negotiations. The affected programs will continue to run at least through the end of this year even though their agreements will have expired, he adds, but ''this has to be resolved for these programs to proceed'' in the long term. Officials at the White House and State Department declined to comment on the record. At issue are: * The plutonium disposition program. This program aims to have Russia and the United States convert 34 tons each of excess plutonium into mixed-oxide, or MOX, fuel for civilian nuclear power plants. The United States has agreed to contribute $400 million to help Russia build storage and conversion facilities, which will cost $2 billion to complete and run over 20 years. A similar U.S. operation is to be built at the Energy Department's Savannah River nuclear weapons facility in South Carolina. The program agreement expired last week. * The Nuclear Cities Initiative. This program helps Russia shut down nuclear weapons production sites that operated as closed cities during the Cold War. The U.S. program spends about $20 million a year to upgrade infrastructure at Russia's nuclear cities and shift weapons experts into new work. It helped close the Avangard nuclear warhead plant at Sarov, Russia, and is slated to help shutter another facility in coming years. The program agreement expires in September. U.S. officials want to ensure that Russia will not take legal action against the United States or its contractors if something goes wrong on one of the projects. This might include an accident in handling nuclear material that could cause injuries or environmental damage. But there has been little headway in three years of negotiations, according to several administration and congressional officials. Russian officials could not be reached over the weekend for comment. Some supporters of the programs want the administration to renew the legal agreements as they exist now. New liability protections could then be negotiated later without risking a shutdown of the programs, they say. In a letter to Bush last week, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, warned against setting up a situation in which the nuclear security programs could collapse. ''We urge your administration not to adopt a position so rigid,'' said the letter, signed by four other Democratic members of Congress. The stakes are especially high on the MOX project, perhaps the most ambitious and costly of the various ''threat reduction'' initiatives run by U.S. agencies to help stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons technology from former Soviet states. If an agreement isn't reached and funding stops for the Russian part of the project, work on the U.S. MOX plant also would stall. It is supposed to be built at the same time as the plant in Russia. ''That's precisely why we're continuing work under these programs'' while talks continue, says Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which runs the programs. ''We believe these legal issues can be worked out.'' The administration wants the programs covered by the same liability terms that govern virtually all other U.S. threat-reduction initiatives in Russia -- language that gives U.S. agencies and contractors blanket protection from lawsuits. The two agreements in question allow Russia to take legal action if there is a problem. Return to Menu 3. Letter to the Editor: Reinventing the Arms Race At the same time Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham was penning a piece for your paper about the Bush administration's work to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, he was carrying out the administration's plans to end two of our most successful nonproliferation programs. This week the secretary sent a letter notifying the Russians that the United States will terminate the Nuclear Cities Initiative. Also this week, an agreement governing key aspects of the effort to eliminate 34 metric tons of weapons-grade Russian plutonium was set to lapse without U.S. action. The Nuclear Cities Initiative is dedicated to shrinking Russia's nuclear weapons complex and finding jobs for scientists outside the weapons industry. Given Russia's plans to close several facilities and concern that a terrorist organization or rogue nation will actively recruit unemployed scientists, it is in our national security interest to continue the program that helps them make the transition into peaceful careers. At the recent G-8 summit, administration officials and G-8 members called the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons "the preeminent threat to national security" and expanded their commitment to fight it. But while some administration officials were in France saying one thing, others were working to relax a ban on the research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons, or "mini nukes," to fund research on a powerful "bunker buster" nuclear weapon and to accelerate the time frame to resume underground nuclear testing. These new nuclear weapons are of highly questionable wisdom and utility. They were not asked for by the military. And they will end the notion that nuclear weapons are weapons of last resort. Low-yield nuclear weapons are for battlefield use. "Bunker busters" will never surgically destroy targets, they offer no guarantee against releasing chemical and biological agents into the atmosphere, and they hinder our ability to gather intelligence from bunkers they would irradiate. The Republican chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water expressed concern that the administration is planning to spend millions of dollars to build new nuclear weapons before there is a need for them. The committee wrote in its report that the Department of Energy "is proposing to rebuild, restart, and redo and otherwise exercise every capability that was used over the past forty years of the Cold War and at the same time prepare for a future with an expanded mission for nuclear weapons." This fundamental change in our country's nuclear weapons policy deserves serious thought. For the United States to have any credibility, the administration cannot preach nuclear disarmament on one hand and start a new nuclear arms race on the other. Return to Menu B. Plutonium Disposition 1. U.S.-Russia: Cooperative Plutonium Disposition Activities Held Up While Liability Concerns Negotiated Following last week�s termination of a U.S.-Russian agreement to examine scientific and technical issues affecting the disposition of plutonium removed from Russian nuclear weapons, the U.S. State Department said yesterday that activity under a subsequent agreement on the actual disposition of the material is being put on hold (see GSN, July 25). Last week, the 1998 Plutonium Science and Technology agreement was allowed to expire because of State Department concerns that its liability provisions would not sufficiently protect U.S. officials or contractors in case of injuries or damages occurring during activities carried out under the agreement. Some experts indicated last week that certain projects carried out under the defunct 1998 agreement could continue under the more comprehensive 2000 Plutonium Management and Disposition agreement, which in its current form contains no liability provisions. U.S. officials are now saying, though, that activities under the latter agreement � which lays out terms and timetables according to which the United States and Russia are each to dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium � will be put on hold until a liability protocol is negotiated. �Industrial-scale disposition activities will not go forward under the Plutonium Management and Disposition agreement of 2000 until adequate liability protections are agreed,� State Department spokeswoman Tara Rigler said yesterday. A U.S. official said not only actual disposition � which was not scheduled to begin for several years � but also design and construction of facilities are on hold. The official added that some activities that had begun under the 1998 agreement have stopped since it expired last week, but stressed that �intense� U.S.-Russian talks are under way in a bid to break the logjam over the 2000 agreement and allow activities to continue. Washington is aiming to reach an agreement by late this year to preserve the existing timetable for the U.S.-Russian plutonium disposition program, officials said. Meanwhile, some disagreement has become apparent between the State Department and the Energy Department�s National Nuclear Security Administration over the status of activities under the 2000 agreement. �I�m not sure how it can be on hold, because it doesn�t expire, and we are continuing our programs under that agreement,� NNSA spokesman Bryan Wilkes said today. U.S. Looking for Umbrella Agreement-Style Liability Language The United States is seeking, as a general standard in threat reduction texts, to obtain protections �commensurate with those in the [1992] Cooperative Threat Reduction umbrella agreement,� Rigler said. The State Department has decided to renegotiate liability protections in agreements with protections it deems insufficient as those agreements come up for renewal, according to U.S. officials familiar with the situation. One major objection the State Department has to the 1998 agreement�s liability provisions is that they exempt Russia from liability in cases of �premeditated� acts leading to damage or injury. The 1992 umbrella agreement has no such exemption for Russia. The State Department�s main focus now is on negotiating a liability protocol to the 2000 agreement, according to U.S. officials. Agreement on such a protocol could render the 1998 text essentially obsolete, since the newer agreement provides for research and development activities in addition to actual plutonium disposition. The 1998 agreement includes provisions under which, according to the officials, some activity governed by existing contracts can continue. However, no new projects will be undertaken under the agreement, officials said. In explaining the new liability focus, the U.S. State and Energy departments have repeatedly cited guidelines that Group of Eight countries agreed on last year at a summit in Canada. A third U.S.-Russian agreement, the Nuclear Cities Initiative agreement, will also be allowed to expire later this year unless the same liability questions are resolved in the text, the U.S. Energy Department announced last week (see GSN, July 23). Return to Menu C. Cooperative Threat Reduction 1. Ukraine, US Resume Talks on Joint Rocket Fuel Project Ukraine's national space agency and the US defense department have opened talks on the resumption of American funding of a project of utilization of solid fuel from more than 160 stages of SS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles, a Ukrainian space agency associated told Itar-Tass on Monday. The United States notified Ukraine at the end of May that it suspended the financing of the project designed to utilize Ukrainian SS-24 rockets in Pavlograd as Washington found it to be a loss-making project. President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma on July 15 called upon the United States to fulfill its obligations related to the building of a factory for the processing of solid fuel from ballistic missiles. Ukrainian parliament addressed U.S. Congress with a request to resume the financing of the project. Return to Menu D. Submarine Dismantlement 1. Russia to Scrap More Nuclear Submarines The 136 million dollars provided by the Japanese government for the dismantling of Russian nuclear submarines will be used to scrap forty-two vessels phased out of the Pacific Fleet and now awaiting their fate at Pavlovskaya Bay in the Far East. The first of these submarines, the multi-role 671 Yorsh vessel (or Victor-1 in NATO code) is already in a dry dock at the Zvezda shipyard in Bolshoi Kamen. Thousands of kilometres away from the Pacific, two similar submarines, upgraded 671RT (Victor-2) Yorsh'es, have sailed into the harbour of the Severodvinsk shipyard Zvezdochka, where they likewise are slated to be cut up. The 10 million euros for the purpose was allocated by Norway. Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, a representative of the Murmansk region in the Federation Council and deputy chairman of the upper chamber's committee for defence and security, told this analyst that dealing with scrapped nuclear submarines has its own problems, like any business. The admiral evidently meant a scandal that erupted in Murmansk over another delay in putting on stream an installation to process liquid radioactive waste, which is being built with American and Norwegian money. The US and Norway contributed 2 million dollars each, but the unit is still inactive, although it should have gone into operation at the end of last century (i.e., before the end of 2001). However, crucially, this is a purely technical matter, while earlier the problem was far more serious. If one compares the state of affairs in this field yesterday (i.e., in the late 90s) and today, the difference is tremendous. Today it is evident that if the budget keeps up the present momentum in scrapping outdated submarines, there will be no need any more to worry about their safety and the threat to the environment of the Northern and Far Eastern seas. The truth is that in the 90s the Russian military lacked the capabilities to dispose of these vessels. In Soviet times, when nuclear submarines were produced serially, such work was never envisaged or planned. It was believed that submarines could only roll over and die in a fight. But by the late 90s, 184 submarines with nuclear reactors had been decommissioned. They were moored in the bays of the Kola Peninsula, Kamchatka and Primorye Territory. Each of the "doomed" submarines was supplied with electricity, high-pressure air, hot steam, water and other vital services. Keeping afloat "potential Chernobyls", as the environmentalists and Greens called them, required enormous sums of money, which was budgeted by the Defence Ministry out of funds earmarked for combat training and military hardware repairs. Unlike conventional vessels, nuclear submarines could not just be cut up into pieces or sold as scrap to other countries. The solid nuclear fuel had to be removed first and liquid radioactive waste generated by the reactor's cooling systems had to be drained. The former was to be sent to the Mayak plant for recycling, and the latter decontaminated on the spot. Only with that done, could the nuclear reactor be lifted out of the submarine and left afloat for many years to cool off and lose the induced radiation, with a place finally found for it to be buried in. Only then could the remaining non-nuclear compartments be eventually cut up. But the procedure lacked money and engineering facilities for it to become reality. In Russia, for example, there are only two four-carriage trains capable of carrying spent nuclear fuel from its offloading and storage places (in the North and the Far East) to central Russia (the Mayak plant in the Chelyabinsk region). In the 90s Russia had only one installation for processing liquid radioactive waste, which is still functioning in the Murmansk region with Atomflot, and services not only the navy, but above all the civilian nuclear icebreaker fleet. That is why only 48 submarines were dismantled in the last decade of the twentieth century. The remaining 150 "potential Chernobyls" are awaiting their lot to this day. But today the situation is radically different. Admiral Popov believes that the situation vastly improved after the Russian cabinet of ministers issued resolution No. 518 in 1998. That document prescribed handing the scrapped submarines over to the Nuclear Power Ministry. The budget began to allocate 5 to 6 billion roubles annually for submarine scrapping. And things began to happen. Over the past three years a further 35 submarines have been dismantled. Currently 21 submarines are going through this process. Next up are another 45 Northern Fleet submarines. Of course, Russia has received great help from its neighbours - Japan, Norway, and the US. Under the Nunn-Lugar programme known as the Cooperative Threat Reduction Act, Washington has assigned funds for the construction in Severodvinsk, at the Zvezdochka shipyard of a shore-based technical facility to offload spent nuclear fuel, and for repairing and modernising its dry docks, while it has also supplied state-of-the-art equipment for cutting up submarine hulls. Japanese money in the Far East built a floating complex to process liquid radioactive waste, called Landysh (Lily of the Valley). Construction of a similar installation has commenced in the north with Norwegian and American money. It is this unit that has run into trouble. The designer - FGUP MKTs Nuklid from St Petersburg - just cannot keep to the schedule. Overseas aid for Russia is essential, says Admiral Popov, "we are grateful for it to our counterparts from Japan, the US and Norway, but it makes up only one-tenth of the funding provided by the Russian government for submarine scrapping and safe storage of the submarines and their spent fuel". Over the recent period this money has helped to repair storage facilities for solid and liquid radioactive waste at Andreyev Bay in the North. Now elements of the radioactive waste no longer find their way into local streams and the Barents Sea. The environmental situation is getting back to normal. There is a well-organised system of protecting the storage sites, which precludes any theft of fuel elements, as has often been the case in the past. At Gremikha, repairs are being finished on a dry dock which will receive offloaded nuclear fuel from submarines with liquid metal coolants. There were six of these unique submarines, 705 and 705K Lira (or Alfa in western classification) with a high degree of automation, and they served for more than ten years. Now they require a special scrapping scheme. The future of reactors from the already dismantled nuclear submarines is also being decided. Fifty-three such units, i.e., a submarine reactor compartment with hermetically sealed "empty" side compartments, are now stored afloat at Saida Bay on the Kola Peninsula. They must stay in this position for at least ten to twelve years until the radiation levels ease off slightly. Then they must be dispatched for long-term (up to 70 years) storage in a dry and environmentally safe location. Most likely, it will be one of the drifts or adits of that same Saida Bay, which were once hewed in the rocks in the eventuality of nuclear war for clandestine moorage and repairs of nuclear submarines. They are no longer needed, and following some necessary work, they will be filled with "dead" reactors. Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic, despite earlier plans, will not be used for storing reactors. The Russian Defence Ministry has a functioning test range on the archipelago and although nuclear tests have long ceased there, it appears impossible to put compartments with nuclear reactors in the old drifts of the range for long-time storage, Admiral Popov claims. At the end of the day, in his view, the work done over recent years to organise the safe storage, transportation and processing of liquid and solid waste from submarines and scrapping of submarines, guarantees that no environmental disasters due to scrapped submarines will hit either the North or the Far East. Return to Menu 2. Experts Narrow Search Down to 3 Sites for New Nuclear Storage Facility A new burial site for storing low- and medium-grade nuclear waste will be built in a remote, hard-to-reach area of the Kola Peninsula, an Arctic region bordering on Norway, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Saturday. Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev was quoted as saying that experts had narrowed the search for an ideal spot down to three sites, all areas of rocky ground deep inside the peninsula. Over the past six years, officials evaluated more than 30 sites on the peninsula, he said. Ministry experts had investigated the possibility of establishing the nuclear storage site on the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic. But Rumyantsev said its changing climate could cause the permafrost to thaw over the next century, possibly leading to a leak of nuclear materials, ITAR-Tass reported. Earlier, officials had also cited the prohibitive cost of construction so far north. The Kola Peninsula has one of the greatest concentrations of nuclear material in the world, with about 100 Russian submarines containing 300 nuclear reactors aboard in its waters, according to the Norwegian-based Bellona environmental group. Rumyantsev said the final site would have to guarantee the safe storage of the nuclear waste for centuries. Return to Menu 3. Novaya Zemlya Radwaste Repository Considered Inexpedient The construction of a radioactive waste repository at Novaya Zemlya was considered inexpedient, Minister of the RF for atomic energy Alexander Rumyantsev said, reportedly by Rosbalt news agency referring to Gosatomnadzor of Russia, July 26 while visiting Murmansk Region. He said the geologists had done a climate change studies and come to a conclusion that the global worming at this part of the Earth would pose a doubt on permafrost existence there. So, no one could guarantee the reliable radwaste confinement in there, the minister said. A. Rumyantsev also said that a possibility is considered of arranging a repository in the rock of remote and hardly accessible part of the Kola Peninsula. He noted that presently this issue had �been nearly decided upon�. As regards the Novaya Zemlya US$ 70 million repository, it had been approved by the Minatom�s assembly in June 2002. This construction option was also approved by experts from the U.K., France, Germany, Finland and Norway, and passed the state environmental expert review. The repository was planned to host liquid radioactive waste from the Northern NAVY retired nuclear submarines (NS), which is presently stored in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. The objective of the Minister Rumyantsev�s visit to Murmansk Region was to inspect on the progress in speeding up the state nuclear submarine disposition program in the Northern NAVY and environmental rehabilitation of radiation hazardous facilities in the Arctic. The regional administration informs that, besides nuclear submarines, nearly all former infrastructure for operation and maintenance of NS is of potential danger to the environment. These are shore NAVY support bases, storages of irradiated nuclear fuel and liquid and solid radwaste, the technical support ships based at Atomflot enterprise located in the city of Murmansk vicinity. The minister visited the facilities where the situation is grave including the storage in the Andreeva Bay. According to Rumyantsev, the radiation situation even at this facility had become much better as compared to 2002. Only last year the federal budget allocated over 200 million rubles to refurbish the Andreeva Bay shore base. Western countries, Norway, Sweden and the U.K. provided for a significant assistance. Valeri Pantileev, the director of the northern radwaste reprocessing facility, said that the French government had also expressed a wish to participate in improvement of the radiation situation not only in the Andreeva Bay but also in the settlement of Gremikha where the NAVY radwaste storage facility was transferred to Minatom�s balance sheets. Return to Menu E. Biological Weapons Threat Reduction 1. Vaccines for Survival State Research Center Vektor, which used to make biological weapons, is now creating medicines to fight extremely dangerous viral diseases. And its former adversaries, the Americans, are helping out. Koltsovo Village near Novosibirsk has long ceased to be closed to outsiders. A kilometer away from the village is a vast territory surrounded by a concrete wall topped with barbed wire. Only ten years ago, experiments aimed at increasing the killing power of extremely dangerous viruses were in full swing behind this wall at the State Virology and Biotechnology Research Center, Vektor. Party task Biologists, seen as enemies of socialism, were persecuted in the USSR for many years, resulting in a considerable lag in the forbidden field of genetics and molecular biology. As late as the early 70s, the Soviet leadership realized that this lag in the field of biotechnology was fraught with dire consequences. As a result, a special government enactment was ssued on April 19, 1974 providing for the allocation of funds to construct several institutes at the same time. However, they never worked for the public good until the break-up of the USSR. The government�s interest in the advanced technologies development had military aims. The scientists invited to work at the new research centers implemented the Defense Ministry�s large-scale top-secret program to create new types of biological weapons. The proletariat�s secret weapon The Science and Production Association, also known as Vektor, was established in March 1985 and reassigned later to Biopreparat. The biologists� main job was to find the most effective types of viruses for weapons of mass destruction. Their colleagues from other institutes were did the same. Naturally, the biological weapons program was kept quiet. However, on April 11, 1992, guided by the wish to reassure the world public, Boris Yeltsin signed an official decree on the termination of offensive biological weapons rograms in Russia. When the state stopped paying the bills, Russian defense biologists had to turn to completely unfamiliar business: searching for funds. Scientific curiosity Long standing general director at Vektor, academician Lev Sandakhchiyev, should be given his due: as early as the mid-80s he began to muse over possible ways to use the work of his labs to new ends. Sometimes fate intervened. In 1985, Vektor started working with the hepatitis A pathogen (infectious jaundice). The Moscow-based Poliomyelitis Institute didn�t have its own facilities to produce enough hepatitis A vaccine, and they turned to Vektor to continue the development. Today, Vektor is the only enterprise in Russia that has the hepatitis A vaccine. It constantly wins numerous industrial contracts, and though on par with foreign analogues, the Vektor vaccine costs 3-5 times less. Production of another vaccine against measles began at Vektor as well. Initially, it was a redundant production, but now intense development of improved production technology for this vaccine is under way. Development of yet another product � human recombinant alpha-interferon started at Vektor as early as the 1980s. This genetically engineered preparation effectively fights various catarrhal infections, hepatitis viruses, and even cancer (for example, its administration may lead to a halt in the pathogenic mechanism and even to the regression of the number of cancer cells). Special diagnostic units development became one more promising civil areas f initial research by Vektor specialists. Today, it�s one of the two largest enterprises in Russia by production volume of diagnostic sets for diverse viral infections, such as AIDS, hepatitis, herpes, measles, and others. The range of products made by Vektor-Best has increased by about twenty times over the last few years. IREC saves the day Vektor�s commercial activity, which was only beginning in the early 90s, couldn�t cover all the expenses required to run the scientific monster. Moreover, it couldn�t count on the state � the total volume of Vektor�s financing from the Russian federal budget shrank more than ten times compared to the pre-perestroika era. Then Vektor began to participate actively in various international projects, which became its main way of earning money. Thanks to the quick establishment of financial contacts with the International Research and Engineering Center (IREC), the Novosibirsk center currently enjoys a relatively comfortable existence. The new international organization took note of Vektor immediately. Its scientists were given the opportunity to buy equipment and chemicals and to take business trips; salaries increased, and suddenly scientists at the institute began to stir. In general, financing by IREC of the leading Russian biotechnology centers has been growing steadily over the few last years, and $10.2 million have been devoted exclusively to Vektor projects. Security: the biggest expense It is not by chance that the West is taking the trouble to keep the staff at Vektor and other, similar institutes working. The world needs cheap and effective vaccines. In addition, NATO countries fear that Russian scientists will continue to work on biological weapons, if not in Russia, then in other, less desirable countries. At the beginning of 1990s, Soviet biotechnologists went abroad in search of new sources of livelihood in the hundreds, if not the thousands. A substantial part of them settled in the West, but, according to data from the secret service, quite a few of them headed for other countries in search of a job, not only to Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran and North Korea but also China, Israel, and India. Rogue countries have made repeated attempts to get a hold of Russian bio-specialists. In the late 1990s, the Western mass media actively promoted stories about the frequent visits of Iranian emissaries to both Koltsovo and Obolensk. However, the center�s leadership refused to proceed, because financial aid from American partners came in time. In an interview with The Washington Post, a US State Department official who wished to remain anonymous noted with satisfaction: �We�ve no longer heard of any Iranian visits to Vektor.� The next generation Meanwhile, Vektor continues to develop more and more new vaccines and medicines. Among research funded by IREC and a number of other western partners are a cultural flue vaccine, new methods of vaccination against tuberculosis, and AIDS vaccine development. In March 2001 in Atlanta, Lev Sandakhchiyev announced his intention to set up, using Vektor as a basis, a specialized International Center for the Study of Emerging and Reemerging Diseases. This project hopes to attract $25 million at the outset and additional annual financial support in 4 to 5 years totaling $12 million. Sandakhchiyev�s idea was backed by the US State Department and the US Department of Health and Human Services. In 2001, Vektor received its first $250 thousand for the project. Return to Menu F. Russian Nuclear Forces 1. Russia Holds Celebrations Honoring Navy Russia marked Navy Day on Sunday with celebrations at sea, glowing pronouncements about Russia's past and future as a naval power and a somber ceremony honoring victims of a painful blot on the navy's record - the wreck of the nuclear submarine Kursk, which killed its entire crew. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reviewed warships and submarines that lined up in the water off the Arctic port of Severomorsk, where the Russian navy's Andreyev flag - a blue cross on a white field that has been in use since the Czarist era - was hoisted on the deck of the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great. "There is no doubt that the Andreyev flag, as before, will proudly fly on the expanses of the world ocean, a symbol of the sea power of a Russia that is renewing itself," the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Ivanov as saying aboard an aircraft carrier from which he reviewed ships of Russia's Northern Fleet, founded in Soviet times 70 years ago. "Here in the north is 80 percent of our naval strategic nuclear might. Here are our most modern, most powerful ships. The level of combat-preparedness is high and in recent years has increased," Ivanov said in comments broadcast on NTV television. He said that while the armed forces were give "very little attention" for years following the Soviet collapse, that has changed more recently. Russia's navy has struggled to find funds to maintain its ships and had to scale back plans to modernize the fleet, a large portion of which needs overhauling. For years the navy could not afford to send ships on long voyages, but Russian sent ships to the India Ocean this spring in its largest warship deployment since the 1991 Soviet breakup, for joint exercises with India. Some of the World War II veterans who donned their medal-studded uniforms to join Sunday's celebrations lamented the decline of the navy. "Ships are going out of service, planes are going out of service," veteran Boris Nikitin told NTV in Vladivostok, the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet. "I don't know what we will use to defend ourselves." In addition to the Northern Fleet and the Pacific Fleet, Russia has fleets based on the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. In a congratulatory message to the navy and its veterans Sunday, President Vladimir Putin noted that this year is the considered the 300th anniversary of the Baltic Fleet, founded by Czar Peter the Great in his push to make Russia a European power. Putin said the Baltic Fleet had a proud history and added that "in our time, too, the navy is serving to strengthen the defense potential of Russia, to increase its authority as a great sea power." One of the worst moments in the history of Russia navy was the Kursk disaster in August 2000, when explosions ripped through the bow of one of Russia's most advanced nuclear submarines, sending it to the bottom of the Barents Sea and killing all 118 seamen aboard. The Kursk disaster threw a spotlight on the navy's troubles, and Putin was criticized for failing to quickly end his vacation. In the city of Kursk, which gave the submarine its name, relatives of the dead sailors, local officials and navy veterans gathered Sunday to remember the victims of the disaster, ITAR-Tass reported. A priest led a prayer and participants placed flowers at a monument and at the graves of 12 Kursk crewmen buried in the city. Return to Menu 2. Ukraine Sells Soviet Missiles to Russia Moving to bolster its strategic might despite financial problems, Russia has acquired Soviet-built ballistic missiles from Ukraine and is preparing to begin producing a new generation of nuclear submarines, officials said Friday. Ukraine inherited the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but later renounced nuclear weapons and transferred all of its 1,300 nuclear warheads to Russia for destruction. It has also dismantled most of its Soviet-made strategic missiles with US financial assistance, but reportedly retained about 30 of the SS-19 missiles. The Ukrainian government decided in October to sell its SS-19s to Russia, and Russia's Interfax-Military News Agency reported Friday that the transfer had been completed. A spokesman for Ukraine's Ukrspetsexport company refused to comment on the report or say how many missiles were involved. A spokesman for Russia's Strategic Missile Forces confirmed Russia had received the missiles, but declined to say how many. In a similar deal in 1999, Ukraine handed over 11 Soviet-built strategic bombers and several hundred cruise missiles to Russia in partial payment of a debt for Russian natural gas supplies. SS-19s are among the most modern and powerful Soviet-built missiles, equipped to carry six warheads. According to data provided by Moscow under the START I arms reduction treaty with the United States and released by the US State Department's Bureau of Arms Control, Russia had 150 SS-19s with 900 warheads as of July 31, 2002. Alexander Pikayev, a nuclear arms analyst with the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office, called the deal a cheap way for Russia to bolster its strategic arsenal. ''It will allow Russia to save funds that would have to be spent on building expensive new missiles,'' Pikayev said in a telephone interview. The latest US-Russian nuclear arms reduction agreement, signed in May 2002 by President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, obligates both sides to cut their strategic nuclear arsenals by about two-thirds, to 1,700 to 2,200 warheads, by 2012. Russia's ambitious plans to build new Topol-M missiles have been hampered by money problems, and the military has sought to maintain nuclear parity with the United States by extending the life of its Soviet-era missiles. ''The SS-19 is a relatively new missile which can remain in service for a long time,'' Pikayev said. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Friday that in 2006, the navy would receive a new nuclear submarine armed with next-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles currently under development, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported. The first new submarine, called the Yuri Dolgoruky, will be followed by other submarines of the same type, the agency quoted Ivanov as saying during a trip to northern Russia. He did not say how many would be built. Return to Menu 3. Russian Defense Min Congratulates North Fleet With 70th Jubilee Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has greeted sailors and officers of the country's North Fleet with the 70th anniversary of the fleet's foundation. As he addressed a gala meeting in Severomorsk, the chief base of Russia's northern naval forces, Ivanov said: "From January through to July, 2003, ships of the North Fleet have had 816 combat exercises, which is 63 percent of all the war games specified by the combat training plan". Ivanov also said ships of the entire Russian Navy had had 1,310 exercises during the winter months only versus 1,112 exercises over the whole 2002. "This is a graphic proof of a growing quality of combat preparations in the Russian Armed Forces," he said. "Good combat training is a priority direction of the Russian Army and Navy reform". Ivanov made assurances the Russian government is doing its best to prepare highly qualified cadres for the Navy and upgrade its tables of equipment. The North Fleet is the youngest, and the most powerful, of Russia's four fleets (the other fleets are the Black Sea, the Baltic and the Pacific). It has the largest grouping of Russian sea-based nuclear forces, accounting for 80 percent of the country's naval nuclear capability. Return to Menu 4. Russia Gets Soviet-Built Ballistic Missiles from Ukraine Moving to boost its strategic arsenal, Russia has acquired a batch of Soviet-built ballistic missiles from Ukraine and is preparing to begin producing a new generation of nuclear submarines, officials said Friday. Ukraine inherited the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but later renounced nuclear weapons and transferred all its 1,300 nuclear warheads to Russia for destruction. It has also dismantled most of its Soviet-made strategic missiles with U.S. financial assistance, but Ukraine's space agency reportedly took over some 30 RS-18 missiles - called SS-19 by NATO. The Ukrainian government decided last October to sell its SS-19s to Russia Last October, and Russia's Interfax-Military News Agency reported Friday that Ukraine had completed their transfer. An unidentified spokesman for Ukraine's Ukrspetsexport company refused to say how many missiles Ukraine sold and how much money it earned, the agency said. Officials at Ukrspetsexport refused to comment on the report. A spokesman for Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, who asked not be named, confirmed that Russia got the missiles and said that they would join Russia's strategic arsenals. He said the missiles remained in good condition, but refused to comment on their number and other details of the deal. Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said during a trip to the northern part of the country that in 2006 the navy would receive a new nuclear submarine armed with next-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles currently under development, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported. The first new submarine, called the Yuri Dolgoruky, will be followed by other submarines of the same type, the agency quoted Ivanov as saying. He did not say how many would be built. Return to Menu 5. Russia to Build New Nuclear Submarine by 2006: Official The Russian navy will be equipped with a new strategic nuclear submarine by the year 2006, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying on Friday. The Yuri Dolgoruky will be the first model of the 935 Borei category, which is due to replace Russia's current fleet of Typhoon-category subs. Construction work on the new submarine began in 1996 but was suspended because of financial and technical problems, particularly linked to the submarine's nuclear missile cargo. "The first model will be completed in 2006, before the start of mass production," Ivanov said during a visit to the headquarters of Russia's Northern Fleet in the northern port of Murmansk. He did not specify to what extent the new 935 Borei submarines would replace the current fleet of 13 strategic nuclear submarines, which carry a total of 216 ballistic nuclear missiles. "The series will be sufficient. Not as large as during the Soviet era because we do not have the same needs, and because state finances do not permit it," he said. Missile testing for the Yuri Dolgoruky is due to start soon, Ivanov said. A large number of submarines in Russia's cash-strapped navy have fallen into disrepair following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Return to Menu G. Missile Defense 1. U.S.-Russia:Mistrust Could Hamper Missile Defense Cooperation, Russian General Says Lingering mistrust between the United States and Russia could jeopardize the two countries� efforts to cooperate on missile defense development, Russian Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky said today (see GSN, July 16). Baluyevsky said there was concern over the U.S. decision to upgrade radar stations located in Greenland (see GSN, March 6) and the United Kingdom as part of missile defense efforts (see GSN, Feb. 6). Those stations would be ineffective in tracking a ballistic missile launched from the Middle East or North Korea, he said. �That means that the theorists and pragmatists in Washington fear that the threat is coming from Russia � for example in the form of an unsanctioned rocket launch,� Baluyevsky said (Agence France-Presse, July 28). Return to Menu H. Russia-North Korea 1. USA to Involve Russia in Negotiations on North Korean Problem The solution of the North Korean problem should be found via peaceful multilateral negotiations, it is "the US official position", announced Dennis Halpin, head of the US Congress delegation that arrived with a visit in the Russian Far East. On Monday the delegation discussed the situation around North Korea at a meeting with Viktor Gorchakov, deputy governor of the Maritime territory, bordering on North Korea. According to the US Congressman, besides China, South Korea and Japan, the USA would like to involve Russia in talks on the North Korean nuclear problem. Deputy governor Viktor Gorchakov said that in the last two years the territory's trade and economic cooperation with North Korea had grown, and thus, "the Maritime territory is interested in solving the situation on the Korean Peninsula by only peaceful means," he emphasized. The meeting also considered issues of developing trade and economic cooperation between the USA and the Russian Far East. Return to Menu 2. Washington is for Russia's Participation in Talks on N Korea Russia should take part in the talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, U.S. Undersecretary of State for arms control and international security John Bolton said here on Monday. According to Bolton, there are no differences between Washington and Moscow on Russia joining the dialogue on North Korea's nuclear programme. He said Russia's participation was warranted since it is a major power in the region and could be directly affected by the actions North Korea takes. "Russia has a historic relationship with North Korea that could make it an important factor in convincing North Korea it has to abandon its nuclear weapons program," Bolton said. "And as both a permanent member of the (UN) Security Council and one of the five legitimate nuclear weapons states, I think that's also a substantial argument for Russia's participation." The American diplomat has negotiations with Chinese Foreign Minister's deputies Zhang Yesui and Wang Yi on Monday. On Tuesday, he plans to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing. The settlement of North Korean nuclear problem is in the focus of talks in Beijing. The parties also exchanged opinions on the strategic stability and nuclear non-proliferation, global and regional security, including the situation around North Korea and Iran. They also discussed bilateral relations. A press conference has been scheduled for later Monday. On Tuesday morning, John Bolton is scheduled to fly to Seoul for a two-day working visit before heading to Japan as the final point of the American diplomat's Asian tour. North Korean nuclear problem will be in the centre of the talks in the both Asian capitals. Return to Menu 3. Russia Sees N Korea Nuclear Talks in September Talks on North Korea's nuclear program may be held in the first half of September, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov reported on Friday. However, Losyukov added that it has not been decided yet whether the talks will take place. The U.S. has suggested to China that the negotiations be first held in Beijing in a trilateral format (the U.S., North Korea and China), and after that, probably the next day, in an expanded format (North Korea, South Korea, Russia, U.S., China and Japan), Losyukov said. "It is important for this initiative that these two talks take place immediately one after the other," Losyukov said. "Beijing should now pass this proposal to the North Koreans, and it is impossible to say at this point what their response will be," he said. Losyukov said that if this proposal is accepted, the talks will likely be held in the first half of September in Beijing at the level of deputy foreign ministers. Losyukov said that if North Korea agrees to these two-stage negotiations, Russia will doubtlessly take part in the expanded format. "We have expressed a wish to take part in this format. North Korea also considers our participation a condition of such negotiations, if they are to take place. Beijing believes Russia's participation is expedient, and the other countries are not against it," Losyukov said. Return to Menu 4. US-Russia to Discuss N Korea Nuke Issue Amid reports of Pyongyang's plans to declare itself a nuclear weapons state, Russia and the United States on Friday agreed to closely interact in seeking a solution to the North Korean nuclear issue. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and US State Secretary Colin Powell during a telephonic conversation on Thursday night have reached an agreement in this regard, Russian foreign office said. "It is wrong to draw lopsided conclusions on North Korea's nuclear programmes and today nobody can assert whether Pyongyang has nuclear weapons or not," Russian Deputy Foreign minister Alexander Losyukov told NTV channel. Losyukov did not rule out that the US-Russia talks on North Korea's nuclear programme may be held in the first half of September. The US has suggested to China that the negotiations be first held in Beijing in a trilateral format (the US, North Korea and China), and after that, probably the next day, in an expanded format including North Korea, South Korea, Russia, US, China and Japan), Losyukov said. "It is important for this initiative that these two talks take place immediately one after the other," he said adding Beijing should now pass this proposal to the North Koreans, and it is impossible to say at this point what their response will be. According to Losyukov if this proposal is accepted, the multilateral talks would likely to be held in the first half of September in Beijing at the level of deputy foreign ministers. Losyukov said that if North Korea agrees to these two-stage negotiations, Russia will doubtlessly take part in the expanded format. "We have expressed our desire to take part in this format. North Korea also considers our participation a condition of such negotiations, if they are to take place. Beijing believes Russia's participation is expedient, and the other countries are not against it," Losyukov underscored. Earlier, commenting on reports about Pyongyang's plans to decalre itself a nuclear power on North Korea's national day on September 9, a top Russian defence expert said that it would have far reaching consequences on the global security. According to the Director of Russian Institute of Strategic Analysis Konovalov, acqusition of neuclear weapons state status by Pyongyang would untie Tokyo and Seoul's hands and they could push for acquiring their own nuclear weapons destabilsiing the situation in the Far East. Return to Menu I. Russia-China 1. Rosenergoatom and Jiangsu Nuclear Corp. to Discuss Direct Cooperation July 28 Rosenergoatom Concern is to host a group of Jiangsu Nuclear Corporation (China) experts, as Nuclear.Ru was informed by the Concern�s press-center. The meeting between Rosenergoatom Director General Oleg Saraev and JNC Board of Directors Chen Zhaobo will discuss the issues related to the direct cooperation between the state-owned nuclear power corporations of both countries. During their Russia visit the Chinese experts are to be shown to the Nuclear Power Plant Assistance Center of Rosenergoatom. In addition, the sides will discuss ascension of JNC to the Moscow�s Center of World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO). Jiangsu Nuclear Corporation is the would-be utility of Tianwan nuclear units, which are built with Russia�s assistance and to the Russian design. The first phase of Tianwan will include two VVER-1000 power units of improved safety. Similar reactors are safely operated at Balakovo, Kalinin, Volgodonsk and Novovoronezh nuclear plants in Russia. Tianwan-1 start-up is scheduled for 2004. Return to Menu J. Links of Interest 1. Estimates of North Korea�s Unchecked Nuclear Weapons Production Potential Return to Menu 2. C3: Nuclear Command, Control Cooperation Return to Menu 3. Hearing on China's Proliferation Policies and Practices Before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission 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 |
|
|
|
© 2007 Partnership for Global Security. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement.