Russia plans convert 2 nuke reactors to low-enriched uranium fuel

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia plans to convert two nuclear research reactors to low-enriched uranium fuel in 2014 under the U.S.-Russian nuclear cooperation program on peaceful use of atomic energy, RIA Novosti reported.

Russia has informed the United States that one or two reactors will be converted in 2014, Sergey Kiriyenko, the head of Russian state-run civil nuclear corporation Rosatom, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman said.

Russia earlier halted nine out of 27 research reactors fueled with high-enriched uranium. The United States has stopped or converted to low-enriched uranium 20 out of 27 reactors.

The long-stalled U.S.-Russian Agreement for Cooperation in the Field of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, also known as the U.S.-Russia 123 Agreement, signed for 30 years, came into force on January 11, 2011. It lays the legal framework for cooperation in nuclear research, production and trade, and both sides see it as an important contribution to the non-proliferation regime.