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Russia and U.S. sign nuclear pact

MOSCOW: Russian and U.S. officials signed an important agreement on civilian nuclear power on Tuesday that will give the U.S. access to Russian technology and could hand Moscow lucrative deals for storing spent fuel.

The deal, signed on the eve of Dmitry Medvedev’s inauguration as President, signals a reversal in U.S. policy on cooperating with Russia on nuclear issues. Cooperation had cooled in recent years, mainly due to disagreements over how to handle the perceived nuclear threat from Iran.

“The U.S. and Russia were once nuclear rivals,” U.S. Ambassador William Burns said after a signing ceremony. “Today, we are nuclear partners with unique capabilities and unique responsibilities for global nuclear leadership.” The deal — signed by Mr. Burns and Russian atomic energy chief Sergei Kiriyenko — will give the U.S. access to state-of-the art Russian nuclear technology.

That is important for the U.S., where nuclear development has been virtually dormant since a 1979 reactor accident at Three Mile Island in the U.S. and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion in the Soviet Union, experts say.

The U.S. is especially interested in learning about developments regarding fast-neutron reactors, as well as in recycling nuclear fuel and buying Russian-enriched uranium.

The deal would potentially allow other countries to transfer to Russia for storage spent nuclear fuel from the U.S., according to a U.S. Embassy fact sheet. The fuel storage plans have caused outrage among environmentalists and ordinary Russians, who fear such a project would turn the country into the world’s nuclear dump.

But Mr. Kiriyenko said the deal did not mean Russia would be importing nuclear fuel from other countries. “Russia is not importing and will not import nuclear fuel.”

Work on the agreement began after Putin and Bush promised in 2006 to increase nuclear cooperation. — AP

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