18 Sept (NucNet): The US and Russia have signed an agreement aimed at converting around 68 tonnes of surplus weapons-grade plutonium into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for use in commercial nuclear power plants.
The liability protocol agreement was signed in Washington on 15 September 2006 by US under-secretary of state Robert Joseph and Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Kislyak.
The two countries completed negotiations for the agreement in 2005. The Russian government recently gave its formal go-ahead for the agreement to be signed.
US energy secretary Samuel Bodman said the agreement cleared a legal hurdle for a plutonium disposition programme administered by the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy (DOE).
Under the agreement, the US and Russia will each dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium removed from military programmes by converting it into MOX fuel.
The US will convert its plutonium at NNSA’s MOX fabrication facility to be built at Savannah River in South Carolina. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved construction of the facility in 2005 and site preparation activities are nearing completion.
The DOE said in October 2005 that MOX produced at the facility would be used in power plants operated by US utility Duke Power. Duke operates the Catawba and Oconee nuclear plants in South Carolina and the McGuire plant in North Carolina.
