MOSCOW. July 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia will be supplying non-weapons grade plutonium-238 for the United States, which the latter will use for spaceships under a recent contract, a minister reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
"Though the agreement between Russia and the U.S. on the civilian use of nuclear energy expired several years ago, an upsurge in cooperation is in evidence," Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said.
There is, for instance, a contract under which Russia is supplying spent weapons grade uranium for U.S. nuclear power plants. "The implementation of the contract is accurately following the schedule. Both the Russian and the American participants are showing a high degree of discipline," Rumyantsev said.
In addition, Russia and the United States are considering recycling nuclear submarines. Russia is running such projects with Japan, Norway and Britain. Germany "is ready to allocate USD25m for recycling Russian Northern Fleet submarines," the minister said.