Status of U.S.-Russian Plutonium Disposition

On April 13th, 2010, the United States and Russia signed a Protocol amending the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA), a bilateral agreement in which both countries committed to dispose of no less than 34 metric tons of surplus weapon-grade plutonium. This Protocol reflects a revised Russian plutonium disposition program based on irradiating Russian plutonium as mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in fast reactors operating under certain nonproliferation conditions, as well as updates for the U.S. plutonium disposition program. The revised program is aligned with Russia’s nuclear energy strategy and is no longer conditioned on securing international assistance outside that to be provided by the U.S. under the terms of the Amended PMDA. The United States and Russia also agreed on the key elements of a PMDA monitoring and inspections regime. This paper will provide more details on the amended PMDA and outline the next steps for the U.S.-Russian plutonium disposition program.