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Director General of ROSATOM S. Kirienko had talks with U.S. Secretary of Energy E. Moniz Communications Department of ROSATOM, PUBLISHED 12.12.2013 On the 10th of December in Washington D.C. (USA) Director General of ROSATOM S. Kirienko and U.S. Secretary of Energy E. Moniz discussed current progress and prospects of the Russian-U.S. energy cooperation, including the issues of nuclear research, commercial interaction, as well as nuclear safety and nuclear nonproliferation. Sergey Kirienko and Ernest Moniz were satisfied to note the fact of the last off-shipment of containers with low enriched uranium (LEU), which had arrived at Baltimore port in the framework of the completion of the HEU Agreement (which is also commonly known as the Megatons to Megawatts Program). It was stated that the Agreement became an example of the close and transparent bilateral interaction and greatly contributed to the nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. The parties commemorated the successful completion of the Agreement, under which 500 tons of HEU from the Russian nuclear warheads (equivalent to 20,000 nuclear charges) had been recycled and delivered to the USA as fuel for U.S. reactors. This event was preceded by a function held on the occasion of loading of the LEU containers in the St. Petersburg seaport on November 14. The last four LEU-based fuel containers, which arrived on December 10, have been sent to Padukah port (Kentucky). From the Padukah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the low enriched fuel will be delivered to the fuel fabrication facilities in the USA where it will be turned into fuel assemblies, which subsequently will be delivered to the commercial consumers and used in nuclear reactors in the USA. During the negotiations of S.V. Kirienko and E. Moniz, three initiative cooperation areas were highlighted. These include the continuation of projects in the framework of the Agreement between the governments of Russia and the USA concerning the cooperation in research and development in nuclear and energy spheres, which lays the basis for broadening the cooperation between the Russian and U.S. nuclear research laboratories in the areas, such as nuclear technologies, fundamental and applied science, energy, environment, and nuclear nonproliferation. Besides, this is the signing of memoranda in frames of the said Agreement on the multilateral nuclear environmental program in the Russian Federation, which build up a new basis for the bilateral cooperation in the field of nuclear physical security, conversion of reactor and combating illicit trafficking of nuclear materials. In the framework of this Agreement, Russia and the USA closely cooperated in the repatriation of the Russia-produced highly enriched fuel from third countries. It is planned to complete the program in. The USA, on its part, has also repatriated fuel from the countries where research reactors had used HEU fuel produced by the USA. The parties agreed to hold the V meeting of the Working Group on Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Security of the Russia-U.S. Presidential Commission in 2014. S.V. Kirienko invited E.Moniz to visit Russia in 2014. S.V. Kirienko also had a meeting with D. Poneman, Co-Chairman of the Working Group on Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Security of the Russia-U.S. Presidential Commission and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy. Other news: First Chapter of US-Russian Megatons-to-Megawatts Deal Closes Russia started delivery of the last batch of low-enriched uranium to the United States under a long-standing program to convert Soviet-made nuclear weapons into fuel. Russia Starts Building Largest-Ever Nuclear Icebreaker The yet-unnamed ship, to be powered by two nuclear reactors, will be 14 meters (46 feet) longer and four meters (13 feet) wider than the current largest, the 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory). Rosatom Picked to Build $10Bln Jordanian Nuclear Plant – Reports Rosatom will build the plant in the Amra region, 60 kilometers east of the eastern Zarqa city, said Khaled Toukan. |
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