“Technology Cooperation with Russia on Plutonium Disposition”

Our technology cooperation with Russia is aimed at attaining Russian strategies, actions, and outcomes for the disposition of Russia’s excess plutonium to reciprocate U.S. disposition efforts. In July 1998, the U.S. and Russian Governments signed an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation to govern our joint activities in plutonium disposition. Since then, the U.S. and Russia have continued to conduct studies and pilotscale tests and demonstrations of technologies needed to dispose of surplus weapon-grade plutonium. The United States and Russia have developed a roadmap to chart the path forward to design, construct, and operate disposition facilities in Russia. The early parts of this roadmap focus on technology development in the areas of plutonium conversion and nondestructive assay, irradiating MOX fuel in reactors, and immobilization. This work will confirm the viability of technologies that would be used for disposition of surplus Russian plutonium, subsequent to a plutonium disposition agreement between the United States and Russia.