#3 - JRL 7303
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003
From: "Robert Burns" <ctirip@earthlink.net>
Subject: RE: 7302-Nuke Facility Access
David,
Re: JRL #7302 (AP: U.S. Given Access to Russia Nuke Facility), it's unfortunate that AP didn't recognize that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency now regularly visits the plutonium oxide (PuOx) storage facilities at Zheleznogorsk (Mining and Chemical Combine/Gorno-Khimicheskiy Kombinat) and Seversk (Siberian Chemical Combine/Sibirskij Khimicheskiy Kombinat). The first such PuOx visit took place in March 2002; the most recent PuOx monitoring visit to both facilities (of which I was a team member) occurred in March-April 2003. While the current visit by U.S. Congressman may have focused on security issues during the current visit, DTRA teams regularly monitor the proper storage of plutonium oxide containers stored at Zheleznogorsk and Seversk, as well as shutdown plutonium-producing reactors at Zheleznogorsk, Seversk, and Ozersk; the most recent visit to these reactors took place in June 2003. All activities are conducted in accordance with the Plutonium Production Reactor Agreement, signed in September 1997. For those who read that this congressional delegation represented the first time Americans "set eyes on the underground facility", rest assured that the military and civilian personnel at DTRA have been, are, and will continue to engage the Russian side to ensure the safe and secure storage of plutonium oxide at these facilities, despite the misleading and inaccurate reporting by Associated Press.
Robert Burns
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
On-Site Inspection Directorate
START/Nuclear Division
Nuclear Branch
Aug. 27, 2003: #7302 • #7303 • JRL Home
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