Russia and the United States continue to discuss conversion of research reactors

Rosatom and the U.S. Department of Energy held a meeting to discuss conversion of Russian research reactors to low-enriched uranium. The meeting took place on October 2, 2014 in Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, which operates IRT-T reactor. The reactor was among the two for which the feasibility study was completed in 2012 (the total of six reactors were studied). The Untied States and Russia confirmed their commitment to the reactor conversion program in June 2013.

The meeting in Tomsk has a special importance as it comes at the time of tensions between the United States and Russia that followed the political crisis in Ukraine. It was reported earlier that the DoE suspended all contacts with its partners in Russia. The joint work, however, apparently continues - in September 2014 the GTRI program removed HEU spent fuel from Poland to Russia. The meeting in Tomsk further indicates that the work on reactor conversion continues as well.