CHELYABINSK. Nov 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The United States wants the dismantlement of Russian nuclear munitions to go faster, director of the chemical metallurgy plant of the Mayak production association Georgy Batorshin said on Monday.
"The program of Russian nuclear munitions scrapping is being implemented in strict accordance with the schedule. The U.S. party wants the dismantlement of nuclear munitions to go faster, but it will require additional financing," Batorshin told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The chemical metallurgy plant has been processing high- enriched uranium (weapons-grade plutonium) into low-enriched nuclear material since 1996 in the framework of the Russian-U.S. HEU-LEU program. The obtained material can later be used as fuel for nuclear power plants. "The program covers a period of 10 years, but dismantlement of nuclear munitions at a higher pace is being discussed," Batorshin said.
The chemical metallurgy plant gets weapons-grade uranium from dismantlement plants, transforms it into "protoxide - oxide" and hands it over to facilities in the town of Angarsk in the Irkutsk region and the town of Seversk in the Tomsk region. The facilities transform the nuclear material into low-enriched uranium and send it to the United States as a commercial commodity.
The scrapping of Russian nuclear munitions is under strict international control, Batorshin said. "U.S. specialists (inspectors) visit our enterprise six times a year to control the transformation of arms components into scobs," he said.
The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry will get a total of some USD500m from the United States for the implementation of the HEU- LEU program, experts say. A part of the funds will be channeled to the Mayak production association which is among the main executors of the program.