Text:
U.S. Energy Department Announces Russian Contracts

The U.S. Energy Department says its Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory (LLNL) signed two contracts in Moscow March 17 to assist
Russian weapons experts in their transition to civilian employment.

A March 21 press release said the contracts, for oil production and
fiber optics projects, were developed as part of the U.S.-Russian
strategic planning process for the city of Snezhinsk under the Nuclear
Cities Initiative (NCI). The goal of the NCI, according to the
release, is to allow Russian scientists to remain in their homeland
and work on civilian and commercial projects as Russian weapons
facilities are downsized or closed.


"The Energy Department together with its laboratories is working to
help Russia transition from manufacturing weapons of mass destruction
to applying scientific knowledge to new profitable and peaceful areas
of work, such as energy and communications," Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson said. "The Russians have great technical capabilities and
it is in everyone's interests to help apply those skills to a civilian
economy," he added.


The Energy Department also announced that LLNL and the All-Russian
Research Institute of Technical Physics (VNIITF) have agreed in
principle to form an open computer center at Snezhinsk where Russian
software engineers could help relieve some of the worldwide shortage
of computer programmers. This would be the second open computing
center created in Russia under the Nuclear Cities Initiative, the
release said, the first being in Sarov.

Following is the text of the release:


U.S. Department of Energy
March 21, 2000

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ANNOUNCES RUSSIAN CONTRACTS
Technology Projects include Oil, Fiber Optics, Computers


On March 17, the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory (LLNL) signed two contracts in Moscow that will
assist Russian weapons experts from the closed city of Snezhinsk to
transition to civilian employment. The projects include developing oil
production technology and improving Russia's fiber optic cables for
the commercial market.

"The Energy Department together with its laboratories is working to
help Russia transition from manufacturing weapons of mass destruction
to applying scientific knowledge to new profitable and peaceful areas
of work, such as energy and communications," said Secretary of Energy
Bill Richardson. "The Russians have great technical capabilities and
it is in everyone's interests to help apply those skills to a civilian
economy."

The contracts were developed as part of the U.S.-Russian strategic
planning process for the city of Snezhinsk under the Nuclear Cities
Initiative (NCI), a Department of Energy effort to help the Russian
government provide civilian employment opportunities to weapons
scientists in closed Russian nuclear cities. The goal of the NCI is to
make it possible for the Russian scientists to remain in their
homeland and work on sustainable civilian and commercial projects as
facilities in Russia's weapons complex are downsized or closed. The
contracts follow U.S. export control rules and all applicable laws of
both countries.

The contracts, signed by representatives of LLNL and SPEKTR, a State
Unitary Enterprise, are summarized below:

Oil well casing perforators. Oil wells, when drilled, are lined
with metal casings that support the surrounding geology and prevent
gas, oil and water from mixing in the well. The Russians at SPEKTR
already provide, for their domestic market, explosive charges for
perforating the casings, allowing the oil to flow effectively at
selected depths. With approximately $220,000 in U.S. support over the
next year, the Russians will develop perforation technologies that
apply to more diverse geologic conditions and casings. DOE explosive
technology will not be transferred; the department is only providing
resources to assist the Russians to develop their own technology for
their domestic economy.


Fiber optic development. Fiber optics are the method of choice for
faster digital information transfer in local and long-distance
telecommunication links. SPEKTR technologists will make a type of
optical fiber called multi-mode fiber that is used in local area
networks. This is a niche market, worth approximately $300 million
world-wide annually, that the SPEKTR fiber optics can fill. Under a
two-year contract they will raise the quality of their multi-mode
fiber to world standards, demonstrate production capability to satisfy
commercial demands and develop business relationships with cable
suppliers that will commercialize their product.

LLNL and the All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics
(VNIITF), also agreed in principle, as part of the strategic planning
process, to form an open computer center at Snezhinsk and will work
toward signing a future contract to begin the commercial software and
scientific computations effort. Skilled Russian software engineers
working at the center will be able to relieve some of the worldwide
shortage of programming talent. High quality Internet lines will link
the center with customers inside and outside Russia, just as with
other commercial software development centers around the world. This
will be the second open computing center created in Russia under the
Nuclear Cities Initiative; the first, in Sarov, was created by Los
Alamos National Laboratory and dedicated on Oct. 1, 1999, by Secretary
of Energy Bill Richardson and Russia's Minister of Atomic Energy
Yevgeniy Adamov.

SPEKTR was founded by the Russian weapons lab VNIITF as a separate
organization to perform commercial work to provide employment to
former weapons scientists. In English the full name of VNIITF is the
All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics. This Institute is
one of two in Russia that designed and tested nuclear weapons and
which now maintains their nuclear stockpile. VNIITF is located east of
the Ural Mountains, within the closed city of Snezhinsk, which used to
be known as Chelyabinsk-70.

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