Russia, U.S. sign administrative arrangements for nuclear cooperation agreement
MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax) - Russia and the United States on Tuesday signed administrative arrangements to a 123 Agreement on nuclear energy cooperation, the head of Russian nuclear materials supplier OJSC Techsnabexport, Alexei Grigoryev said on Wednesday.
"Yesterday the head of the sector, Sergei Kiriyenko and U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Ponemon signed - by the way, virtually, via video conference - the administrative arrangements to the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the area of peaceful use of nuclear energy, which went into effect in February 2011, the so-called 123 Agreement," Grigoryev told reporters.
He said that with the signing of the arrangements "our contract with American corporation USEC for provision of uranium enrichment services in the period from 2013 to 2022, which we signed on March 23 this year, went into effect."
The contract with USEC is supposed to compensate for the end in 2013 of the HEU-LEU contract under which Russia has been shipping low-enriched uranium made from weapons-grade high-enriched uranium to the U.S. since 1993.
The administrative arrangements are general technical documents regulating the procedures for handling of nuclear and moderating materials, and equipment and components that fall under the nuclear energy cooperation agreement, including procedures for their transfer, accounting and reporting, and control and protection of information.
