The U.S. and Russia recently took another step forward in their efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons grade materials and reduce nuclear dangers.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently exchanged diplomatic notes bringing the U.S.-Russian Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement and its 2006 and 2010 Protocols into force, the department said in a statement.
The amended Agreement commits each country to dispose of no less than 34 metric tons of excess weapon-grade plutonium, under strict non-proliferation conditions, the State Department said in a statement.
The initial combined amount, 68 metric tons, represents enough material for about 17,000 nuclear weapons. The agreement envisions disposition of more weapon-grade plutonium over time. Disposition of the plutonium is scheduled to begin in 2018.
Entry into force of the agreement also represents a significant milestone in U.S.-Russian cooperation on nuclear security measures, and marks an essential step in the nuclear disarmament process by making these reductions in plutonium stocks irreversible.
In addition, the agreement breaks new ground on cooperative transparency. Following a joint request by Clinton and Lavrov to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano not quite a year ago, the two countries and IAEA are making progress on appropriate IAEA verification measures for each country’s disposition program.