Washington, May 28: The US energy department announced a USD 466 million deal to build two coal-burning power plants for Russia in return for a Russian promise to close three plutonium-producing reactors considered among the most dangerous in the world. Two American companies - Washington Group International and Raytheon Technical Services - will oversee construction of the two fossil fuel plants. Most of the actual work is expected to be done by Russian companies and workers. Energy secretary Spencer Abraham yesterday called it a major step in the US-Russia nuclear nonproliferation effort, although it will be five to eight years before the Russian reactors will shut down and stop making plutonium.
While the Russians have agreed to halt plutonium production and dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium that is already stockpiled, they have refused to shut down the three reactors until a way is found to replace the electricity and industrial heat the reactors produce for nearby communities. In addition to making enough plutonium for three warheads each week, the reactors in the Russian cities of Seversk and Zheleznogorsk also are viewed as among the most dangerous because of their design, which is similar to the Chernobyl reactor involved in the 1986 nuclear disaster in Ukraine.
Unlike US reactors, for example, they do not have concrete containment domes to hold in radiation in case of an accident or major leak. Bureau Report