*EPF515 07/21/00
Fact Sheet: White House on Disposition of Weapons-Grade Plutonium
(G-8 seeks financing plan to support Russia's program) (480)

Following is a fact sheet from the White House outlining a plan by the G-8 -- seven major industrialized countries and Russia -- for the development of an international financing plan and multilateral cooperation arrangement to assist Russia to dispose of its weapons-grade plutonium.

The plan also expands on efforts by the United States and Russia to dispose of plutonium deemed excess for defense requirements.

(Note: In the text, "billion" equals 1,000 million.)

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The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
(Okinawa, Japan)

July 21, 2000

FACT SHEET: DISPOSITION OF UNITED STATES AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION WEAPON-GRADE PLUTONIUM

The G-8 today took an important step toward disposition of weapon-grade fissile material designated by the United States and Russia as excess to defense needs so that it will never again be used for weapons. The G-8 called for the development, by the 2001 Genoa Summit, of an international financing plan and multilateral cooperation arrangements for Russia's disposition program. This announcement builds on the June 5 announcement in Moscow by President Clinton and President Putin regarding completion of a bilateral Agreement for the management and disposition of weapon-grade plutonium withdrawn from their respective nuclear weapon programs.

Today's announcement carries forward the sustained G-8 efforts launched at the 1996 Moscow Nuclear Safety and Security Summit and continued at the Cologne Summit last year. The new U.S.-Russia agreement charts the course for the safe and transparent disposition of a total of 68 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium declared excess to U.S. and Russian defense needs -- an amount that represents thousands of nuclear weapons. It advances key arms control and non-proliferation interests.

The Agreement requires each Party to dispose of no less than 34 metric tons of weapon-grade plutonium from its nuclear weapon program by irradiating it as fuel in reactors, or by immobilizing it with high-level radioactive waste, rendering it safe for geologic disposal. The goal is to begin operation of industrial-scale facilities by 2007 to achieve a disposition rate of at least two metric tons of plutonium per year in rough parallel and, working with other countries, to identify additional capacities at least to double that disposition rate.

The Agreement also provides for monitoring and inspection throughout the disposition process, and allows for equivalent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verification measures in lieu of bilateral monitoring activities, as may be agreed by the Parties.

Preliminary estimates for the Russian Federation's disposition program are $1.7-1.9 billion over 20 or more years. The U.S. Congress has appropriated more than $200 million for cooperation with Russia's plutonium disposition program. The Clinton Administration is requesting another $200 million in funding for 2001.

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