RIA Novosti, Russia
November 29, 2007

Armenia to join Russian international uranium enrichment center

YEREVAN, November 29 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia’s government has
approved a plan to join an international uranium enrichment center in
Russia, the government’s press service said on Thursday.

The center, part of Moscow’s non-proliferation initiative to create a
network of enrichment centers under the UN nuclear watchdog’s
supervision, will be based at a chemical plant in Angarsk, Siberia.
The center will also be responsible for the disposal of nuclear
waste.

"At its Thursday meeting, the government of Armenia endorsed a
proposal to join an agreement between the governments of Russia and
Kazakhstan on the establishment of an International Uranium
Enrichment Center," it said.

Russia had previously said it would grant any country in the world
the use of the future center.

Russia and its ex-Soviet neighbor Kazakhstan, which holds 15% of the
world’s uranium reserves, signed an agreement in October 2006 to
establish their first joint venture to enrich uranium, intended to
begin in 2013.

Ukraine’s Fuel and Energy Ministry said in June that the country
intended to join the project in the near future.

Russian President Vladimir Putin first raised the idea of joint
nuclear enrichment centers early last year, in a bid to defuse
tension over Iran’s controversial nuclear program. The president said
the centers would give countries transparent access to civilian
nuclear technology without provoking international fears that
enriched uranium could be used for covert weapons programs.