Posted on 11/09/2003 6:39:41 AM PST by FairOpinion
WASHINGTON - Under a new agreement with the United States, Russia will retrieve highly enriched uranium it shipped to civilian research reactors in 17 countries, reducing the likelihood of theft.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (news - web sites) and Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev signed the bilateral statement on the uranium retrieval Friday and said another agreement securing Russian uranium from a dozen other countries "is in its final stages."
The announcement is the latest attempt to address growing concern about the large amount of weapons-suitable highly enriched uranium that is kept at active and idle research reactors in dozens of countries.
Most of this uranium fuel, which is weapons grade and could be used in a crude nuclear device if obtained by terrorists, originated in either Russia or the United States as part of a program to promote peaceful nuclear research. In some cases reactor operators do not have the money to ship the material back.
The U.S.-Russia statement "confirms our common objective of reducing, and to the extent possible, ultimately eliminating the use of highly enriched uranium in civil nuclear activity," said Abraham.
The agreement involves 20 reactors in Eastern Europe and countries formerly part of the Soviet Union. A joint statement said two shipments of Russian-origin highly enriched uranium, or HEU, already had been retrieved and preparations were underway to transfer fuel from a research reactor in Uzbekistan.
The HEU in Uzbekistan has been of particular concern because of the country's close proximity to Afghanistan (news - web sites) and to Islamic groups tied to al-Qaida terrorists.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the private Arms Control Association, said the Russian agreement is "a step forward ... a good move." But he said how good it is will depend on how quickly the Russians act and how comprehensive their retrievals are.
The agreement gave no timetable.
But Abraham said Russian fuel shipments are already underway. In September, Russia retrieved 14 kilograms of fresh HEU from a reactor near Bucharest, Romania, he said.
The United States has been replacing much of the highly enriched uranium it sent overseas with low-enriched uranium fuel similar to what is used in commercial nuclear power plants, thereby reducing the nuclear proliferation threat.
Abraham said Thursday that about 50 percent of the U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium has been retrieved from overseas research reactors. In many of the other cases the task has been complicated because the reactors cannot easily use the low-enriched substitute.
Harvard University researchers said in a report last year that there are 345 operating or idle research reactors in 58 countries that have highly enriched uranium that could be converted for use in a weapon by terrorists if they obtained the material.
Security varies widely at these facilities, the report said.
"In some cases security is provided by a single sleepy watchman and a chain-link fence," wrote Matthew Bunn, a researcher at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
The Harvard report cited several cases of large amounts of highly enriched uranium at poorly secured research reactors in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Among them were a reactor in Ukraine that has 75 kilograms of uranium and another in Belarus with 300 kilograms of highly enriched fuel.
In August, 2002, a joint operation between the United States and Russia resulted in 1,797 pounds of highly enriched uranium being whisked away from a poorly secured research reactor near Belgrade, Yugoslavia and returned to Russia. The uranium had been provided by Russia in 1976.
Among them were a reactor in Ukraine that has 75 kilograms of uranium and another in Belarus with 300 kilograms of highly enriched fuel. "
Just imagine what the terrorists could do with this.
And don't kid yourselves that they aren't trying to get hold of some of this, if they hadn't already.
Yeah, but the jobless rate is falling, so who cares.
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