Eliminating Stockpiles of Highly Enriched Uranium - Pugwash ...

market value for enriched uranium. But in the late 1990s, the market price dropped
sharply, reducing USEC’s profit margins.
In 1999, USEC opened negotiations on a new contract with Tenex that would
account for market fluctuations. The terms of the new pricing contract went into effect
on January 1, 2003, and remain valid through the completion of the HEU-deal in
2013. According to Alexander Rumyantsev, the Russian Minister of Atomic Energy,
Russia expects an estimated additional 5.5 to 6 billion US dollar from the completion
of the HEU-deal. 63
Spin-offs from the HEU-deal
In their May 2002 Summit in Moscow, Presidents Bush and Putin agreed to establish
a Joint Expert Group to work out proposals on near- and long-term bilateral and
multilateral means to reduce inventories of HEU and plutonium. According to the
group’s proposal, further reductions in Russia’s stocks would be made by US
purchases for a strategic uranium reserve consisting of down-blended material from
Russian sources. 64 In September 2002, the expert group presented their proposals
identifying several areas where joint co-operation could lead to additional reduction
of Russian HEU. These include: 65
1. Creation of a reserve in the United States from Russian HEU down-blended
into LEU and increase in the rate and quantity of HEU converted to LEU
under the Nuclear Material Consolidation and Conversion Project;
2. Use of LEU down-blended from Russian HEU to fuel reactors in Russia;
3. Use of Russian HEU to fuel selected United States research reactors, until
cores are converted to LEU, and
4. Parallel, work on accelerated development of LEU fuel for both Sovietdesigned
and United States-designed research reactors.
The work of the Joint Expert Group is in its initial phase. Its real impact on
Russian HEU stockpile reductions remains to be seen. 66
HEU elimination work by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)
As a “track two” approach, the NTI - a Washington-based NGO led by former senator
Sam Nunn - initiated close co-operation with Minatom on additional and accelerated
HEU elimination. In October 2002, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by
the NTI and the International Relation Department of Minatom. According to the
NTI, the non-committing character of this co-operation could make it easier for
Russia to join than what might have been the case with US government sponsored
projects.
63
Based on a meeting with Minister Rumyantsev on 21 February 2003 in Moscow.
64
Oleg Bukharin, “More transparency needed”, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April
2003.
65
Joint Statement Secretary Abraham and Minister Rumyantsev, September 16, 2002,
http://www.ne.doe.gov/home/09-16-02.html
66
So far, most progress has been on the use of Russian HEU to fuel reactors in Western reactors.
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