http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2017465,00.html">Turning Russian Nukes into U.S. Energy (Time)Saturday, Sep. 11, 2010 by Eben Harrell / LondonIn 1993, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. and the Russian Federation signed a landmark arms-control accord. The "Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Purchase Agreement" called for Russia to dismantle thousands of nuclear warheads and convert the weapons-grade uranium in the bombs into fuel for American nuclear-power plants. The agreement is rarely talked about today, but it has been a huge success: Nearly 10% of all electricity in the U.S. is generated by nuclear material taken from the tips of Russian missiles once aimed at American cities.
Think about that: one in every ten lightbulbs in U.S. kitchens, Wal-Marts and baseball stadiums is illuminated by nuclear energy initially designed to obliterate millions of Americans. On Thursday, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which monitors the dismantling of Russian weapons on behalf of the U.S. government, announced that the agreement has reached a milestone: Approximately 400 metric tons of Russian highly enriched uranium — the equivalent of around 16,000 nuclear weapons — have now been converted into low-enriched uranium, the form of the element needed to power nuclear reactors. In the vexing effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons, this little-publicized agreement provides arms-control advocates with an inspirational example of success — and a model for how to move forward. (See "Medvedev and Obama: Sunshine in Moscow.")
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The HEU Purchase Agreement is casually known among arms-control experts as the Megatons to Megawatts program, because nuclear bombs carry the force of millions of tons of dynamite, while power plants can generate millions of watts of electricity. It also falls under a principle elucidated by President Dwight Eisenhower, who, paraphrasing the Bible, suggested that because the binding energy of uranium can be released all at once by bombs (so as to level cities) or over time by powers plants (so as to provide them with electricity), nuclear swords can be beaten into nuclear plowshares.
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Yet it is unlikely that Russia will agree to continue the Purchase Agreement past its expiration in three years' time. It feels that the price it receives from USEC for the uranium is too low, say U.S. officials close to the negotiations. But Russia has expressed interest in dismantling further weapons and selling the uranium on the open market. And U.S. government officials say they are open to amending the agreement accordingly — especially if Russia continues to allow NNSA inspectors to monitor the dismantling of the weapons to ensure the uranium Russia sells does indeed come from warheads.
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http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2017465,00.html">Source at Time Online --d!
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