• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

24 September 1997

GCCP TEXT: REGULATORY OVERSIGHT OF CORE CONVERSION ACTIVITIES

(Joint statement on enhancement of regulatory oversight) (370)
(The following joint statement was released September 23, 1997 by the
White House Office of the Vice President following the ninth meeting
of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technical
Cooperation, also known as the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission)
U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological
Cooperation
GORE-CHERNOMYRDIN COMMISSION
JOINT STATEMENT CONCERNING ENHANCEMENT OF REGULATORY OVERSIGHT OF CORE
CONVERSION ACTIVITIES
The Chairman of the U.S.-Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the
Chairman of the Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Authority of
Russia are utilizing the occasion of the ninth Session of the
U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological
Cooperation held in Moscow September 21-23, 1997, to confirm their
intent to ensure that appropriate emphasis is placed on nuclear safety
issues associated with conversion of the reactor cores of Russia's
Plutonium production readers to a design that does not produce
weapons-grade plutonium. They therefore express their mutual intent to
support the U.S.-Russian Federation core conversion project: the
umbrella Plutonium Production Reactor Agreement signed by the Vice
President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Russia, the
core conversion Implementing Agreement signed between the Department
of Defense and MinAtom, and the Memorandum of Understanding on
Liability signed between the Department of Energy and MinAtom, and
that safety issues relating to these activities be properly evaluated
and addressed. In this light, the United States Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and the Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Authority of
Russia affirm that they will consult closely on regulatory approaches,
including licensing requirements for the purpose of minimizing the
risk associated with the reactors' operation. The two regulatory
bodies will enter into implementing agreements as appropriate to
accomplish these objectives.
The Chairmen of the regulatory bodies also reaffirmed the mutually
beneficial and constructive relationship that has been established and
maintained between their two agencies over the past several years.
Shirley Ann Jackson
Chairman
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Yuriy G. Vishnevsky 
Chairman 
Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Authority of Russia
Moscow, September 23, 1997