Development, Security, and Cooperation

Office for Central Europe and Eurasia (OCEE)

Committee on Indigenization of Programs to Prevent Leakage of Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium from Russia

In July 2005, the National Academies released the report Strengthening Long-term Nuclear Security: Protecting Weapon-Usable Material in Russia. This report, sponsored by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, highlights several obstacles in the transition from a U.S.-Russian cooperative program to a Russian-directed and Russian-funded fully indigenized program that will ensure the security of 600 tons of weapon-usable nuclear material at a level of international acceptability. Overcoming these obstacles requires an increased political commitment at a number of levels of the Russian Government to modern material protection, control, and accounting systems (MPC&A). Adequate resources must be provided to facilities where weapon-usable material is located for upgrading and maintaining MPC&A systems. Additionally, the technical security systems that are being installed through the cooperative program need to be fully embraced by Russian managers and specialists. The report recommends the establishment of a ten-year indigenization fund of about $500 million provided by Russia and its G-8 partners as a new mechanism for gradually shifting the financial burden of MPC&A to the Russian Government.

Please read more about this project, including a list of committee members, in the National Academies Current Projects System.

Responsible Staff Officer: Glenn E. Schweitzer, Director, Office for Central Europe and Eurasia

For more information about this project, please contact Rita Guenther.