Nuclear Reset - Program on Strategic Stability Evaluation (POSSE)

248<strong>Nuclear</strong> <strong>Reset</strong>: Arms Reduction and Nonproliferationvessels into transport containers; they also had the right to observethe loading and unloading of the uranium during down-blend, includingthe way the Russian operators measured the mass, chemicalmakeup, and isotopic and natural compositions of the HEU. Russianinspectors were to have the right to observe the way the RussianHEU was being introduced and removed during its conversion intofuel at the U.S. production facilities.In March 1994, Secretary Hazel O’Leary and Minister VictorMikhailov signed a protocol on HEU-LEU Agreement transparencymeasures for the purpose of implementing the Memorandum’s provisions.17 The protocol listed the following facilities as being subjectto monitoring:• the Urals Electrochemical Integrated Plant (UEKhK)and the Siberian Group of Chemical Enterprises (SKhK),where metal HEU extracted from the nuclear munitionswas oxidized;• the Zelenogorsk Electrochemical Plan (ZKhK), UEKhK,and SKhK, where the HEU oxides are fluoridated into uraniumhexafluoride and subsequently diluted;• the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, as well as plantsin the states of North and South Carolina, Virginia,Missouri, and Washington, belonging to Westinghouse,General Electric, Babcock & Wilcox, Siemens, andCombustion Engineering.Between 1994 and 1996, Russian and U.S. experts developeda number of appendixes to the protocol regulating the monitoringprocedures at these facilities. 18 In the framework of the implementedtransparency measures, U.S. inspectors use portable equipmentto carry out non-destructive verification of HEU enrichmentlevels at every stage of the LEU conversion process: upon arrivalof the weapons-grade components at the SKhK plant, after renderingof these components into metal shavings, and during the processof fluoridating the shavings and converting them into uraniumoxide. 19 Under this method of control, the material remains insidesealed containers throughout the process. At the UEKhK, SKhK,and ZKhK enrichment plants, U.S. inspectors observe the processof collecting samples from the blend-down pipes (weekly) and theirlaboratory analysis at the plant.The experience accumulated in implementing transparency measureswithin the framework of the HEU-LEU Agreement indicates