Russian and U.S. concluded an important agreement on civilian nuclear power that will give the U.S. access to Russian technology and could hand Moscow lucrative deals for storing spent fuel
Russian and U.S. concluded an important agreement on civilian nuclear power that will give the U.S. access to Russian technology and could hand Moscow lucrative deals for storing spent fuel.
That is important for the U.S., where nuclear development has been virtually dormant since a 1979 reactor accident at Three Mile Island in the U.S. and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion in the Soviet Union, experts say.
The U.S. is especially interested in learning about developments regarding fast-neutron reactors, as well as in recycling nuclear fuel and buying Russian-enriched uranium.
The deal would potentially allow other countries to transfer to Russia for storage spent nuclear fuel from the U.S., according to a U.S. Embassy fact sheet.
The fuel storage plans have caused outrage among environmentalists and ordinary Russians, who fear such a project would turn the country into the world's nuclear dump.
But Mr. Kiriyenko said the deal did not mean Russia would be importing nuclear fuel from other countries. "Russia is not importing and will not import nuclear fuel."
