Tracking Number: 368628
Title: "Fact Sheet on Transfer of Nuclear Material from Kazakhstan." Fact sheet released by the White House regarding the transfer of nuclear material from Kazakhstan to secure
storage facilities in the US. (941123)
Date: 19941123
Text:
FACT SHEET ON TRANSFER OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL FROM KAZAKHSTAN
(Text: White House Fact Sheet) (500)
(The White House November 23 released the following fact sheet on the
transfer of nuclear material from Kazakhstan.)
Early this year the government of Kazakhstan asked the United States for assistance in disposing approximately 600 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) that it could not store securely.
A number of U.S. government agencies, including the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked together with experts from Kazakhstan to plan and carry out a program to dispose of the HEU.
The uranium, the product of a reactor fuel research program, remained in Kazakhstan following the break-up of the Soviet Union. There was enough nuclear material to produce around two dozen nuclear weapons.
On October 7, President Clinton directed the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to undertake a joint mission to retrieve the HEU from Kazakhstan. A 31-member U.S. team was dispatched on October 9-12 to the Ulba plant in Kazakhstan. Three C-5s transported the personnel and equipment.
The material was packaged by the U.S. team in containers specially designed to meet all applicable IAEA and ICAO standards as well as U.S. Department of Transportation requirements for shipment of nuclear material by air and by ground transport.
An environmental assessment, required for transport of the uranium to Oak Ridge, was also performed.
In mid-November, three C-5 aircraft were again sent to Kazakhstan to pick up the HEU, as well as the U.S. team and its equipment, for transport to the United States. One of the C-5s transported almost 40,000 pounds of humanitarian assistance for an orphanage in the Ust Kamenogorsk region. The shipment included infant food and clothing, and cold weather gear.
The aircraft carrying the uranium landed at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. The uranium was then transferred to trucks for overland transport to Oak Ridge. The last part of the shipment landed today.
The material that will be stored at Oak Ridge is not considered waste. It is special nuclear material which can be used in nuclear weapons and it will be placed under IAEA safeguards.
It is currently planned, consistent with the president's nonproliferation policy, that the material will be transferred to a commercial facility within six to nine months, where the material would be blended down for use in commercial nuclear reactors. The Department of Energy will issue a Request for Proposal for commercial firms interested in doing this work.
The Department of Energy has been in close communication with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Board, which has safety oversight responsibility, to ensure that storage of this material poses no risk to the health and safety of the local public. The department has addressed all problems raised by the board with respect to matters of health and safety.
NNNN
File Identification: 11/23/94, TXT304; 11/23/94, AXF302; 11/23/94, EPF308; 11/23/94, EUR308; 11/23/94, NEA308; 11/23/94, ERF312
Product Name: Wireless File
Product Code: WF
Languages: Russian
Keywords: URANIUM; KAZAKHSTAN-US RELATIONS; NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION; NUCLEAR SAFETY
Document Type: TXT
Thematic Codes: 1AC
Target
Areas: AF; EA; EU; NE
PDQ Text Link: 368628
USIA Notes: *94112304.TXT
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
