The Russian government on Wednesday suspended agreements for cooperation with the United States on nuclear- and energy-related scientific research and development and the conversion of Russian research reactors from highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium fuel. The move follows the Kremlin’s withdrawal from a bilateral plutonium disposition agreement earlier this week.
The R&D agreement, signed in September 2013 on the margins of the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna, Austria, includes cooperation for nuclear security, nuclear power station design, nuclear technologies for medicine and industry, and the handling of radioactive waste, the government decision said, asserting that U.S. sanctions have affected these areas of cooperation.
The agreement expanded cooperation in these areas between the nuclear research laboratories, institutes, and facilities of both countries and complemented the 2011 entry into force of the U.S.-Russian agreement for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
“In April 2014, the Rosatom State Corporation received a letter from the US Department of Energy Bureau at the US Embassy in Moscow citing directives from Washington and announcing the suspension of nuclear energy cooperation in connection with the events in Ukraine,” according to the Russian government decision, which called the move a “substantial violation” of the agreement.
The U.S. and its allies introduced new economic sanctions following Russia’s intervention in Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. The extension of sanctions against Russia, the letter said, “requires the adoption of countermeasures in relation to the U.S.” The decision cited Russian federal law as the directive under which the agreement should be suspended.
“Russia will preserve the possibility of resuming cooperation under the Agreement when that is justified by the general context of relations with the United States,” it said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday the government would consider reversing the decision “when the United States reaffirms its willingness to fully restore compliance with the Agreement.”
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said during a press briefing Wednesday afternoon that “we’ve yet to receive official notification from the Russians about the suspension,” and that if confirmed, “we would regret” the decision.
The U.S. Department of Energy said in a statement at the time of the deal’s signing, “Potential projects covered by the Agreement could include international safeguards, establishment of a Multi-Purpose Fast Research Reactor International Research Center, irradiation of fuels and materials in the fast-spectrum research reactor ‘BOR-60,’ and defense from asteroids, among others.”
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in a statement that the U.S. is “disappointed” with Russia’s suspension of the agreement. NNSA and the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp. (Rosatom) were developing procedures for implementing the agreement until Russia’s March 2014 incursion into Crimea, at which point discussions were suspended, the U.S. agency said.
“No projects ever were approved under the R&D Agreement,” the statement said. “Although DoE/NNSA had presented a number of proposed nonproliferation and nuclear security activities for consideration by Rosatom in 2015, the U.S. never received a response from the Russian side.”
Moscow also this week terminated a 2010 agreement between Rosatom and the U.S. Department of Energy for cooperation on feasibility studies for the conversion of six Russian research reactors from weapon-grade to low-enriched uranium.
The Russian Foreign Ministry cited the United States’ 2014 termination of civil nuclear energy cooperation and “other hostile steps” as reasons behind the decision, saying “we can no longer trust Washington in a sensitive sphere such as the modernization and safety of Russian nuclear power plants.”
Russia could still independently conduct the research reactor conversions, the ministry said, but in some cases it deems highly enriched uranium most effective, such as for the production of medical isotopes.
“At the same time, Russia intends to fulfill the obligations it assumed under the Agreement, in particular, to complete the work under all previously concluded contracts,” the ministry said.
A 2013 joint statement of the nuclear energy and nuclear security working group of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission said that joint work on reactor conversion feasibility studies under the agreement was completed, with the technical feasibility of all six reactors’ conversion to LEU confirmed.
Russia on Monday withdrew from the bilateral Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement, a nonproliferation deal under which each side would eliminate 34 metric tons of excess weapon-usable plutonium, citing U.S. hostility and failure to fulfill its side of the deal.