FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 30, 1998

NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
Chris Kielich, 202/586-5806

Note to Reporters:

Nuclear Cities Initiative Briefing

An informational briefing on the Department of Energy's Nuclear Cities Initiative will be held Wednesday, December 2, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. in the small auditorium, 1000 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. A 40 minute question and answer period will follow.

The Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI) has near term goals to provide civilian employment for displaced weapons workers in the ten Russian closed nuclear cities, and long-term goals to assist the Russian Federation in reducing the size of its nuclear weapons complex. In the first year the project will focus on three of the ten nuclear cities designated by MINATOM for assistance: Sarov (Arzamas 16), Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-70) and Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-26). DOE has thus far allocated $15 million for the Nuclear Cities Initiative in fiscal year 1999.

NCI project description, chronology and mission statement, lists and maps of the ten nuclear cities, and profiles of Sarov, Snezhinsk and Zheleznogorsk will be distributed at the briefing. Copies of the government-to-government agreement signed by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and the Russian Minister of Atomic Energy Evgeny Adamov, and descriptions of the business, commercial development, training and social support components of the project will be available.-