AFX News Limited

Russia to remove enriched uranium from other former Soviet-bloc states by
2013
05.29.2006, 09:02 PM

MOSCOW (XFN-ASIA) – The government here has announced that it will
repatriate by 2013 the enriched uranium from reactors in 17 countries
that formerly belonged to the Soviet bloc, as part of the Global
Threat Reduction Initiative.

The 17 countries, which together possess 20 Soviet-era nuclear
reactors, have all agreed to participate in the initiative.

The initiative, launched by the US in 2004, aims to identify, secure
and remove from other countries around the world any US or Russian
nuclear materials, in order to avoid their falling into the hands of
terrorists.

Russia’s first operation was completed in secret in April, when 63
kilograms of uranium was removed from Uzbekistan, according to Valeri
Govorukhin, deputy director-general of Technsabexport, which deals
with exports of products and services produced by the Russian federal
atomic energy agency.

‘The Uzbek reactor was only 37 kilometres from Afghanistan,’ where
US-led forces are battling Islamist extremists, Govorukhin said.

‘The operation was paid for by the US and cost around 7 mln usd, a
third of which went on environmental protection,’ he said.

The next two countries from which Russia plans to remove fissile
material are Latvia and the Czech Republic.

‘We plan to finish the program of repatriating enriched uranium by
2013,’ Govorukhin said.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, more than 100
research reactors around the world are using highly enriched uranium
that could be used for terrorist purposes.

afp/jm