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U.S.-Russia: Nuclear Fuel Program Needs More Support, Experts Say By Mike Nartker The U.S.-Russian Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program works to develop low-enriched uranium fuel for Soviet-designed test and research reactors that currently use highly enriched uranium. Poorly secured HEU could be an attractive target for terrorists seeking material for a nuclear or radiological weapon. There are currently about 40 research reactors in Russia that use HEU fuel, plus three in former Soviet states and six in other countries such as North Korea and Libya, according to the report. “It is vitally important that this effort receive renewed political and financial support in both the United States and Russia,” the report says. “The program could make an important contribution to the effort to eliminate vulnerable HEU stockpiles in Russia and those other countries that posses Soviet-designed research and test reactors.” The RERTR program faces several obstacles to its full implementation, however, including financial, political and technical concerns, the report says. One of the program’s main concerns is a lack of adequate funding, it says. Currently, the RERTR program’s efforts in Russia are funded through a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. State Department’s Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund, but that grant is set to expire soon. Energy has not attempted to obtain the funds needed to keep the program running at an effective level, the report says. In fiscal 2003, according to the report, the program will need an additional $3.5 million above the department’s request to continue LEU fuel development and reactor conversion efforts, according to the report. A large-scale program to convert Russian reactors to use the new fuel would need even more funding, which is unlikely to be available from Russia or other former Soviet states, the report says. Politics Political concerns have always hampered the RERTR program, according to the report. “Perhaps more than any other U.S.-Russian cooperative nuclear security program, the RERTR effort has been directly impacted by larger U.S.-Russian disputes,” the report says. An example of this involves the Russian Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering, Russia’s chief institute for RERTR efforts, according to the report. In 1998, the institute was banned from participating in any U.S. nonproliferation activities over concerns that the institute was aiding Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The sanctions ended the institute’s role in managing Russia’s side of the RERTR contract and has stopped the institute from taking part in any U.S.-Russian cooperation under the program, the report says. Another political problem is the differing ways U.S. and Russian officials view the program, according to the report. The United States sees the program as primarily a nonproliferation activity. Russia, however, also anticipates commercial benefits such as more international nuclear sales, some of which the United States might oppose, the report says. Technical Issues RERTR participants have had success in developing LEU alternatives for small reactors, but they have had difficulties in converting reactors to use the new fuel, according to the report (see GSN, April 16). Some Russian reactor operators are skeptical of the idea of reactor conversion, while some Russian nuclear officials oppose cooperating with the United States on secrecy grounds, the report says. Russian nuclear experts have also noted dissatisfaction among some Western reactor operators and have said the Energy Department is reluctant to convert some of its own reactors to use LEU fuel, the report says. These developments have increased fears among Russian nuclear specialists that using LEU fuel would increase their costs and offer poor reactor performance, the report says. Russian research reactor operators might be persuaded to begin using LEU fuel, if offered a package of incentives, according to the report. Those incentives could include a guaranteed supply of LEU fuel, assistance in transporting spent fuel off site and payment for and disposal of unused highly enriched uranium fuel, the report says. The U.S.-Russian “Megatons to Megawatts” program, under which the Untied States is committed to purchasing HEU taken from Russian nuclear weapons, could be expanded to include small HEU stockpiles from test and research reactors, according to the report (see GSN, June 20). While the RERTR program is already playing an important role in nonproliferation efforts, increased support could help broaden the program’s scope, the report says. “The U.S.-Russian RERTR program is serving a critical role in reducing the nonproliferation and security threat associated with the HEU-fueled research reactors in Russia and other countries with Soviet-built reactors,” the report says. “With adequate funding, political support and coordination with other U.S. nuclear threat reduction efforts, the program could be an effective tool in eliminating highly vulnerable HEU stockpiles in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.”
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