OVERVIEW OF HEU TRANSPARENCY PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION AT THE MAYAK PRODUCTION ASSOCIATION

Under the 1993 Highly-Enriched Uranium (HEU) Purchase Agreement, the United States is purchasing, over 20 years, low enriched uranium (LEU) for use as power reactor fuel downblended from 500 metric tons of HEU from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons. Through 1999, more than 80 metric tons of HEU has been downblended to LEU. To date, U.S. Enrichment Corporation has paid Russia more than $1.1 billion for LEU purchased under the HEU Purchase Agreement, and U.S. utilities have consumed more than 60 metric tons of LEU downblended from HEU from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons as fuel for U.S. power reactors. Transparency measures have been implemented at four Russian HEU-LEU processing facilities and at six U.S. facilities that receive the Russian LEU. Transparency procedures specify access to storage and processing areas to provide confidence that the nonproliferation goals of the Agreement are met. Implementation of transparency measures in those areas, are contained in a set of 16 implementing Annexes to the Protocol. The U.S. and Russian sides continue to work to implement agreed transparency measures.