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Russia says to continue cooperation with U.S. over nuclear safety

Xinhua, January 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russia is ready to continue cooperation with the United States in global nuclear security issues, Russia's state-owned atomic energy corporation Rosatom said Thursday.

"Russia and the United States of America bear a special responsibility for ensuring safety and security of nuclear materials and their reliable physical protection, preventing them from falling into hands of terrorist organizations," Rosatom said in a statement.

"We will be ready to return to the cooperation when the American side is ready for that, and certainly, strictly on the basis of equality, mutually beneficial and respect," the agency stressed.

The statement was viewed as a response to reports published in U.S. media earlier this week that Russia had initiated the discontinuation of the nuclear security program that has been in place since the 1990s.

Last year, the U.S. Department of State suspended all joint works in a bilateral nuclear safety project -- the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, also known as the updated Nunn-Lugar program.

In May 2014, the United States also withdrew from joint projects between the two countries' national atomic industrial laboratories and enterprises, thus suspending an inter-government agreement on scientific cooperation in nuclear researches signed in September 2013.

Rosatom stressed in its statement that Russia rigorously follows all international norms of nuclear and radiation safety and physical protection of nuclear reactors and materials, because Moscow is convinced that nuclear energy safety "cannot and should not depend on situational changes of political environment."

According to Rosatom, Russia has repatriated highly enriched nuclear fuel from 14 countries, thereby eliminating the risk of unauthorized use of these materials. Also, 2,136 kg of highly enriched nuclear fuel have been returned to Russia since 2002, which amount would be enough to produce about 85 nuclear weapons.

Russia also is the only country that has diluted 500 metric tons of highly-enriched uranium, the amount enough to produce 20, 000 nuclear warheads.

"The American side is still to make this step," Rosatom said. Endite