Waiting is Meaningless: Russia Will Terminate the Weapon-Grade Plutonium Disposal Agreement with the United States and Put It to Use

The United States has siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars for factory construction, and it will certainly make a big fuss now

Author: Yevgeny Bersenev

Commentator of this article:

Alexander Uvarov

TASS quoted industry sources reporting that the Russian government will consider a draft law on terminating the Russia-US agreement on weapon-grade plutonium disposal at its next meeting.

"The draft law has been included in the agenda for July 31," the news agency quoted its sources as saying. If approved by the cabinet, the document will be submitted to the State Duma.

It should be noted that the plutonium disposal agreement between Russia and the United States, concluded in 2000 and ratified in 2011, stipulates that both countries must dispose of 34 tons of weapon-grade plutonium — a quantity considered to exceed the needs of military projects.

Vladimir Grudzev, chairman of the board of the Russian Lawyers' Association (AYUR), told TASS that terminating the above agreement is just a formality. He said that the agreement had already been suspended since 2016.

Grudzev said, "The decision to terminate the agreement is related to the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia, but the main reason is the American desire to change the plutonium disposal procedures stipulated in the agreement without Russia's consent."

At the same time, the chairman of the board of the Russian Lawyers' Association explained that the termination of the agreement was due to multiple reasons:

"The agreement specified conditions for restoring the agreement's effectiveness: reducing the US military infrastructure deployed on the territory of NATO member states; lifting anti-Russia sanctions and compensating Russia for losses incurred due to the sanctions. Unfortunately, the list of unfulfilled conditions of the agreement is not limited to these."

"Director of the Atomic Information Center" Alexander Uvarov pointed out that the first documents regarding the disposal of weapon-grade plutonium were signed in the 1990s.

"According to the agreement, we built the BN-800 reactor, but we did not start the disposal work because the implementation of the agreement was supposed to be based on the principle of reciprocity, and the Americans did not act in time."

"Arguments and Facts" newspaper: Why was the issue of reducing its stockpile raised?

Uvarov: This happened during the so-called "universal partner love" period, which was under Yeltsin, who wanted to be known as a peacemaker. The idea was that to reduce nuclear dangers on Earth, this step had to be taken.

So far, this plutonium has remained untouched — the 34 tons of plutonium mentioned in the agreement are still in a state of idleness, just as they were initially.

"Arguments and Facts" newspaper: Why did we suspend the implementation of the agreement?

Uvarov: Yes, in 2016, President Putin decided to suspend its implementation. However, the Americans believed the agreement was still valid and solemnly issued reports stating that they had done nothing. This is really a ridiculous episode.

Now, obviously, we have come to the conclusion that it's time to put an end to it. Enough is enough. And the problem is actually not political in nature.

Russia initially proposed converting this weapon-grade plutonium into nuclear fuel and started building the BN-800 reactor for this purpose. The Americans also initially proposed converting it into nuclear fuel. They planned to process even more than 34 tons, up to 40 tons.

"Arguments and Facts" newspaper: Did they do nothing?

Uvarov: They proposed converting it into fuel for ordinary reactors (not fast reactors, but thermal reactors). But they couldn't build a fuel plant. A lot of money was spent, but the project never materialized.

Later, they said: then we'll just bury our plutonium directly. For example, mixed with something and buried. Our experts could only shrug: that is, you suggest we dispose of the plutonium, but you yourself just bury it? What if you decide to dig it up tomorrow?

The Americans claimed that this method was too difficult for terrorists, but completely feasible for a country. In any case, the exchange of opinions at the expert level was quite intense.

"Arguments and Facts" newspaper: What can we do with this plutonium now? Continue storing it, or use it for the nuclear arsenal?

Uvarov: This is a very valuable, high-quality nuclear material. It is excellent fuel for various devices.

It can be effectively used for the civilian economy. If the military considers it necessary to use it for our nuclear arsenal, it is also feasible. But this will be decided at the highest level.

"Arguments and Facts" newspaper: Is it expensive and dangerous to store it?

Uvarov: No, storing this plutonium does not require much money. It will not cause any major problems.

Boris Marchenko, a nuclear energy expert and editor-in-chief of the magazine "Earth Energy," pointed out that the amount of weapon-grade plutonium dropped by the Americans in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 was slightly more than 6 kilograms.

"And here there is a total of 34 tons. At some stage, politicians thought this was too much. Moreover, the efficiency of nuclear bombs at that time was about 10%-15%, while today's technology can increase it to 30%. So it's easy to imagine the potential contained in this stored plutonium."

"Arguments and Facts" newspaper: Why is the issue of this agreement being raised again now?

Uvarov: As early as 2008, the Americans began building a facility for weapon-grade plutonium, to produce MOX fuel (a mixture of uranium and plutonium), which can even be used in so-called "light water" reactors. We built the BN-800 reactor capable of processing this plutonium, and it was launched in 2015.

The Americans had no similar facilities before 2008. After that, they also did not build them — they spent billions of dollars on the construction of a factory for processing weapon-grade plutonium, but this nuclear power eventually achieved nothing. In short, the relevant people pocketed large sums of money, but accomplished nothing. Our corrupt officials should learn a lot from this "level" of achievement.

Evidently, our president has grown tired of waiting for partners across the ocean to deliver results — 17 years of no progress, and it's impossible to expect them to achieve anything in 20 years. The Americans naturally proposed the absurd method of vitrifying and burying the plutonium deep underground. But we know that once they need it, they can easily dig it up and put it to use.

Probably for this reason, the issue of terminating the agreement is being raised now. Waiting is meaningless.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7532771966219076159/

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