ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:95102304.TXT
DATE:10/23/95
TITLE:23-10-95 CLINTON, YELTSIN ENDORSE EFFORTS ON NUCLEAR SECURITY
TEXT:
(Texts: Joint statement, fact sheet) (820)
Hyde Park, New York -- President Clinton and Russian President Boris
Yeltsin October 23 underscored their "strong support for the efforts
underway" in the United States and Russia to ensure the security of
nuclear weapons.
In a joint statement issued following their meeting at Hyde Park, the
presidents "noted with satisfaction that bilateral and multilateral
cooperation in these areas has grown rapidly over the past year and
includes joint activities on law enforcement, customs, intelligence
liaison and on-the-ground cooperation to improve nuclear materials
security at ten sites, protecting tons of nuclear material."
The presidents also endorsed "speedy implementation" of plans outlined
by the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission for bilateral cooperation in
connection with the dismantlement of nuclear weapons and the storage
of fissile material from dismantled weapons.
Following are the texts of the joint statement and a White House fact
sheet on nuclear materials security:
(begin text joint statement)
Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin noted the importance they attach to
ensuring the security of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials,
maintaining effective control over them, and combating illegal
trafficking in nuclear materials. They underscored their strong
support for the efforts underway in the Russian Federation and the
United States to achieve these objectives, including the rapidly
growing range of cooperative activities being pursued jointly by U.S.
and Russian experts. The presidents noted with satisfaction that
bilateral and multilateral cooperation in these areas has grown
rapidly over the past year and includes joint activities on law
enforcement, customs, intelligence liaison and on-the-ground
cooperation to improve nuclear materials security at ten sites,
protecting tons of nuclear material. The presidents also welcomed
cooperative efforts to improve the security of nuclear weapons in
transport or storage in connection with their dismantlement.
The two presidents welcomed the joint report on steps that have been
accomplished and additional steps that should be taken to ensure the
security of nuclear materials, prepared by the Gore-Chernomyrdin
Commission in implementation of the May 10 summit declaration on
nonproliferation. This report outlines current and planned
U.S.-Russian programs of bilateral cooperation that will result in
broad improvements in nuclear materials security, including several
important sites with weapons-usable nuclear material, increased
security for nuclear weapons in connection with their dismantlement,
and construction of a safe and secure long-term storage facility for
fissile material from dismantled weapons. The presidents endorsed
speedy implementation of these plans and directed that they be
expanded and accelerated to the greatest extent possible.
(end text joint statement)
(begin text fact sheet)
Following their meeting in Hyde Park, Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin
issued a joint statement noting the importance they attach to ensuring
the security of nuclear weapons and materials and welcoming the joint
report they received from the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission discussing
how the United States and Russia can work together to strengthen
security for nuclear material. This report follows up on the
presidents' May 10 summit statement on nonproliferation.
Joint cooperative efforts to bolster security and accounting for
nuclear material made significant advances in Russia in 1995,
including:
-- expanding cooperation from a handful of facilities to more than a
dozen, enhancing the safety and security of tons of nuclear material;
-- creating a new material protection, control and accounting training
center at Obninsk;
-- improving national-level oversight of nuclear material security,
including regulations, licensing and inspections;
-- creating nuclear material protection, control and accounting
systems at four facilities -- Elektrostal (a nuclear fuel plant),
Arzamas-16 (a nuclear weapons laboratory), Kurchatov and Obninsk
(nuclear research centers) -- to serve as models for such systems at
other facilities; and
-- accelerating direct cooperation between U.S. and Russian nuclear
labs to improve nuclear materials security.
For 1996, the United States and Russia have agreed to expand their
cooperation as follows:
-- expansion of intergovernmental cooperation to five of the largest
civilian sites handling weapons-usable material in Russia, located in
Dmitrovgrad, Obninsk, Podolsk, Mayak and Elektrostal;
-- expansion of direct lab-to-lab cooperation to additional key
facilities including labs at Chelyabinsk-70, Krasnoyarsk-26 and
Sverdlovsk-44;
-- further development of the Obninsk training facility; and
-- additional training, technical assistance and equipment to improve
Russia's national material control and accounting system.
These projects will draw on the $30 million in Nunn-Lugar funds and
$17 million in lab-to-lab funds currently available. The
administration has requested an additional $70 million in nuclear
material security funds from Congress for these projects in FY 1996.
The United States, using $140 million in Nunn-Lugar funds, has been
cooperating with Russia on the design and construction of a safe,
secure and ecologically-sound storage facility for fissile material
from dismantled nuclear weapons. Another $32 million in Nunn-Lugar
funds is being spent to enhance security in the transportation and
storage of the increasing numbers of nuclear weapons destined for
dismantlement.
(end text fact sheet)
NNNN
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
