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U.S. Nuclear Security Agency Focused on Reducing Threats

26 June 2006

NNSA aims to deny terrorists, others means to develop nuclear weapons

Washington -- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has “accelerated and expanded” a five-pronged strategy to deny terrorists and rogue states the essentials needed to develop nuclear weapons, according to a senior official of that agency.

Jerry Paul, principal deputy administrator of the NNSA (part of the U.S. Department of Energy), said in prepared remarks that after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the agency has intensified efforts to keep nuclear material and nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.  He testified before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack June 22.

Paul explained to the subcommittee the five elements of NNSA’s strategy:

· To account for and secure nuclear material in Russia and the former Soviet Union:

More than 80 percent of Russia’s nuclear materials storage sites have been secured, Paul said.  That includes 95 percent of the Russian navy warhead and nuclear fuel sites, which he said would be completed in fiscal year 2006.  Security upgrades at all scheduled sites are expected to be complete by the end of 2008, two years ahead of the schedule agreed to in 2001, he said. 

· To detect and prevent the movement or trafficking of weapons-usable technologies and useable nuclear materials:

NNSA works internationally to install radiation detection equipment at key transit points throughout the world -- including seaports, airports and land border crossings -- to improve U.S. ability to detect movement of nuclear and radiological materials, Paul said.  NNSA also trains enforcement officers around the world to interdict illicit technology transfers, and helps governments improve their own safeguards to keep nuclear materials secure, he added.

· To stop the production of new fissile material in Russia:

Construction is under way, Paul said, at two sites in Russia where the United States is assisting the building of fossil fuel power plants.  Targeted for completion in 2008 and 2011, the power stations will enable Russia to shut down its last three plutonium-producing nuclear reactors and cease production of new plutonium.  

· To eliminate existing weapons-usable material:

Under a bilateral agreement, 500 metric tons of Russian highly enriched uranium from dismantled nuclear weapons is being “down-blended” to low-enriched, non-weapons grade material for use in commercial power reactors, Paul said.  More than 270 metric tons -- the equivalent of about 11,000 warheads -– already have been converted and used to support civilian nuclear power in the United States, accounting for 10 percent of U.S. electricity production.

· To eliminate or consolidate the remaining weapons-useable nuclear and radiological materials that exists throughout the remainder of the world:

Under the Energy Department’s two-year-old Global Threat Reduction Initiative, NNSA is identifying, securing, recovering and helping dispose of at-risk nuclear and radiological materials worldwide.  Research reactors around the world are being converted from highly enriched to low enriched uranium fuel, Paul said.  The agency also is working with Russia to develop technologies that will enable the conversion from high- to low-enriched fuel of Russian-designed research and test reactors in other countries.

Paul’s prepared testimony (PDF, 11 pages) is available on the House Committee on Homeland Security Web site.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)