13 March 2000
(Sandia, Zheleznogorsk to develop and test remediation technology) (650) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Russia's Ministry for Atomic Energy have signed an agreement to develop and test technologies to remediate radioactive waste storage tanks. The agreement -- which pairs the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico and a production facility in Zheleznogorsk, Russia -- will begin immediately, according to a March 10 DOE press release. DOE said Sandia personnel will help the Zheleznogorsk facility "coordinate this [remediation] technology with international standards" in support of the facility's efforts to become a world provider of such technology. Techniques for securing spent nuclear fuel tanks must be tested before being qualified for use in cleanup operations, according to the release. The Energy Department said the joint project is being funded under the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention and will advance the Nuclear Cities Initiative -- two DOE programs aimed at employing Russia's nuclear weapons personnel in commercial, non-weapons related enterprises. Following is the text of the DOE release: [In the text, 1 billion = 1,000 million.] (begin text) U.S. Department of Energy March 10, 2000 U.S.-RUSSIAN COOPERATION IN CLOSED NUCLEAR CITY EXPANDED RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS WILL WORK ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE CLEANUP WITH BENEFITS TO U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Russia's Ministry for Atomic Energy, through their laboratories and production facilities, this week signed an agreement to develop and test advanced technologies to remediate high-level nuclear waste in both the United States and Russia. The partnership between the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories and the Mining and Chemical Combine, a production facility in Zheleznogorsk, Russia, will begin immediately. The announced Tank Retrieval and Closure Demonstration Center in Zheleznogorsk is to be funded by the Department of Energy's Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention, a unique initiative to secure weapons of mass destruction expertise in Russia and the newly independent states. The center will serve as an international site where advanced equipment and technologies for remediation of high-level radioactive waste tanks can be tested before being qualified for use in cleanup of both the Russian and U.S. complexes. The project also advances the Energy Department's Nuclear Cities Initiative by assisting Russia as it downsizes and commercializes its weapons complex. "This is an exciting collaboration offering the potential to reduce future clean-up costs at U.S. and Russian facilities by billions of dollars," said Rose Gottemoeller, Acting Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. "In addition this activity puts Russia's top scientists to work in their homeland, helping to prevent brain drain, a major U.S. priority." The contract, which was signed Tuesday between the U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories' and Russia's Mining and Chemical Combine, names Sandia as overall project manager of the Tank Retrieval and Demonstration Center in Zheleznogorsk. The laboratories' personnel will test Russia's tank remediation technology and coordinate this technology with international standards. The center, funded with $1.5 million from DOE, will assist Zheleznogorsk in their efforts to become a world provider of technology for cleaning and remediating high-level radioactive waste storage tanks, a $24 billion industry in the U.S. and Russia. The Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention is a Department of Energy initiative that seeks to enhance U.S. national security and nonproliferation objectives by engaging scientists, engineers and technicians from former weapons of mass destruction and weapons-related institutes, redirecting their activities in cooperatively-developed, commercially viable non-weapons related projects. The Nuclear Cities Initiative is a Department of Energy initiative that helps the Russian government provide civilian employment to weapons scientists in the 10 closed Russian nuclear cities, making it possible for them to remain in their homeland and work on civilian and commercial projects as facilities in Russia's weapons complex are downsized or eliminated. (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.usinfo.state.gov)