RUSSIA: U.S., RUSSIA SIGN AGREEMENT ON CONTROLLING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
Atomic Energy Agency Director Aleksandr Rumyantsev and U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham signed on 27 May an
agreement under which the United States will pay for the repatriation of spent nuclear fuel from all the research
reactors that Russia and the Soviet Union have built in other countries, Russian and international media reported. The
agreement covers reactors in 17 CIS, Central European, and Southeast Asian countries. The goal of the agreement is to
reduce the risk of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to prevent the materials from falling into the
hands of terrorists, Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Nikolai Shingarev told ITAR-TASS. The United States plans to spend
$400 million on the project, about $100 million of which will go to Russia and the rest being used to repatriate to the
United States spent fuel from reactors built by the United States in foreign countries. In addition, Shingarev said, the
foreign reactors themselves will be upgraded to use fuel that is less highly enriched. RC Copyright (c) 2004. RFE/RL,
Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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