U.S., Russia Agree to Plutonium Reactor Shutdown
After years of delays and stalled plans, Russia and the United
States signed an agreement March 12 to shut down the last three
Russian reactors dedicated to the production of weapons-grade plutonium.
The reactors, which each day can generate enough plutonium for
the equivalent of approximately one nuclear weapon, also provide
heat and electricity for the Siberian “nuclear cities”
of Seversk and Zheleznogorsk. Under the agreement, the United States
will pay to refurbish one fossil-fuel facility and construct one
new fossil-fuel plant for the Siberian cities served by the reactors.
U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham called the accord, which
was signed in Vienna on the sidelines of a radiological material
security conference, “an important step in advancing our nonproliferation
programs.” Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev
agreed that stopping the plutonium production shows that “Russia
and the U.S. are close partners in the strengthening of peace and
in the war on terrorism.”
The refurbishment of an existing fossil-fuel plant at Seversk will
allow the shutdown of two of the reactors by 2008, while construction
of a new fossil-fuel facility in Zheleznogorsk will require that
reactor to operate until 2011, when the new facility will come online.
U.S. Department of Energy fiscal year 2004 draft budget documents
state that, although the United States will finance the construction
of the replacement power facilities, Russia will shut down the reactors.
The two countries first agreed in 1994 to cease permanently all
plutonium production for nuclear weapons in both countries. The
United States has not produced weapons-grade plutonium for its arsenal
since 1988. The two countries have attempted to find alternative
energy sources to replace Russia’s last three plutonium production
reactors since signing the 1994 accord. Russia and the United States
agreed in 1997 to a “core conversion” of the reactors,
which was the less costly option, to be completed no later than
2000. (See
ACT, September 1997.) Under that plan, the designs of
the cores in the reactors would have been converted to minimize
weapons-grade plutonium production and instead use uranium to fuel
the reactors, providing electricity and heat for the cities.
However, cost overruns, financial troubles in Russia, and bureaucratic
delays on both sides impeded the project. (See
ACT, March 2000.) The countries reassessed the project
and determined that core conversion would likely make the reactors
less safe and potentially a greater proliferation threat, because
they would use highly enriched uranium. Instead, the countries agreed
in 2001 to shut down the reactors after replacing them with alternative
power sources.
The reactors’ shutdown could displace up to 9,500 workers,
according to a March 12 ITAR-Tass report. Many of the employees
at the plutonium plants will be employed at the new fossil-fuel
facilities, while some might be absorbed into the U.S.-sponsored
Russian Transitions Initiative program, which helps former Russian
nuclear weapons complex scientists and technicians use their expertise
in civilian work sectors.
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