I have blogged before about the deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Russia has been doing a lot of nuclear saber rattling in the past few years and the U.S. has responded with a little saber rattling of its own. The Russian seizure of Crimea and agitation in Eastern Ukraine has increased tensions between NATO and Russia in Eastern Europe. The Syrian civil war and ISIS have raised tensions in the Middle East between the U.S. and Russia. Russia has mentioned the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons in both Eastern Europe and Syria. Just a few day ago, plans for cooperation between the U.S. and Russia in Syria following the ceasefire have been cancelled.
In the interest of nuclear disarmament the U.S. has purchased nuclear fuel from Russia that was created by decommissioning Russian nuclear warheads. A lot of U.S. reactors have been burning this fuel for years. This particular program has ended and a new program was being put in place. Unfortunately, rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia have now prompted Russia to cancel a program to recycle more Russia nuclear weapons into nuclear fuel.
The US-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement was signed in the year 2000. It commits the U.S. and Russia to dispose of more than thirty four tons of weapons grade plutonium by converting it into mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel.
The plutonium removed from the warheads was to be mixed with uranium and then used for nuclear fuel in light water reactors. Once irradiated and used to generate electricity, the resulting spent fuel could not be used as a material for nuclear weapons manufacture, fulfilling the intent of the agreement.
The conversion was to be carried out with full transparency and verification to insure that the plutonium could never be used to construct nuclear weapons. There were problems with implementation because the first plans drafted did not take into account changes that were being made to the Russia program for the development of nuclear energy. The new Russian plans came out in 2006. Russian suggestions for disposal were presented in 2008. In 2010, the amended PMDA was signed by the U.S. and Russia. This amendment was referred to as the Plutonium Disposition Protocol. The Protocol details the rights, obligations, principles and procedures for monitoring and inspecting the disposition activities of the two countries. The two countries were going to start the disposal program in 2018.
The U.S. MOX fuel fabrication facility is being constructed at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site. Russia already has facilities for producing MOX fuel. They will be expanding and upgrading their MOX plant to comply with the PMDA. The U.S. committed to paying three hundred million dollars for development and construction in Russia. The U.S. has agreed to spend one hundred million dollars in fixed price payments for tons of MOX fuel made from Russian plutonium.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian President has just announced that Russia is cancelling the PMDA because of "unfriendly actions" of the U.S. including sanctions following the Crimea seizure and the tension between NATO and Russia exacerbated by the movement of NATO troops near the Russian border in Eastern Europe. Putin also claimed that the terms of the PMDA would cause problems for Russia's defense program.
A bill was submitted to the Russian Parliament by Putin that lays out terms for reinstatement of the PMDA. The U.S. must move NATO forces out of Eastern European countries that became NATO members after the year 2000, remove all the sanctions from the Crimea seizure and compensate Russia for the money lost due to the sanctions. It is unlikely that the U.S. will agree to these terms.
MOX plant under construction at Savannah River Site:
