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Victories Come Slowly in Cleanup Of Soviet Bloc Nuclear Materials
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The director of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, told reporters that the Nunn-Lugar programs "cannot stop now" but that Russia must pay more of the costs.
David Huizenga, assistant deputy administrator of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, said Congress had ordered that the financial burden of the programs be shifted to Russia by 2012.
At the same time, nuclear smuggling, theft or diversion remains a worrisome prospect for U.S. officials. "We know, unfortunately, that stuff is still moving," Huizenga said.
The origin of radioactive polonium-210 that was used in London last year to kill a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been identified, but the episode gave fresh reminder that fears about smuggling have not abated even as billions of dollars have been spent to prevent it.
Later Wednesday, Nunn and Lugar witnessed the burn-off of a solid-fuel second-stage engine from an SS-25 intercontinental ballistic missile at a site northeast of Moscow. The burn is part of Russia's effort to destroy the missiles in keeping with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
Along with U.S. Ambassador William J. Burns, Nunn and Lugar were invited to press a large red button on a boxy panel in a control room to start the burn. They then watched on closed-circuit television as the engine roared for two minutes 15 seconds.
Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a public charity group, and a former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it was "astounding" how far Russia and the United States have come since the end of the Cold War. He noted that much of the highly enriched uranium taken from Russian warheads is being blended down for use to power U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors.
So far, the Nunn-Lugar program has led to the deactivation of 6,982 strategic nuclear warheads, the destruction of 653 intercontinental ballistic missiles and elimination of 30 nuclear submarines and 155 bombers, among others, according to a statement from Lugar.
The program has also paid for security improvements such as $25 million to upgrade buildings at Luch. The 28 locations of nuclear material have been reduced to five.
