Russia's commitment to remove research reactor fuel in 2010

As part of its commitment made at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Russia pledged to remove fresh fuel of research reactors from three countries - Ukraine, Belarus, and Czech Republic, and spent research reactor fuel from five countries - Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Serbia, and Belarus. All these shipments are expected to be completed in 2010.

Ukraine earlier pledged to remove all HEU from its territory by 2012, half of which is expected to be removed in 2010.

Removal of material from Ukraine, Serbia, Germany, and Belarus will be done as part of the GTRI program. The U.S. administration requested funds for these projects in its FY2011 budget request.

The fresh material in Czech Republic is likely to be fresh fuel of the VVR-S/LVR-15 reactor in Rez. Some fresh fuel was removed from Rez in December 2004 and the reactor is begin converted to LEU fuel. Spent HEU fuel was removed in December 2007. Poland continues to operate Maria research reactor at Sverk, which uses HEU fuel supplied by Russia. In Belarus, a preliminary agreement was reached on the fuel of the discontinued Pamir reactor project (this fuel is currently used in Giatsint facility). There is no agreement yet on the fuel of IRT-M reactor. Removal of material from these countries will also be done with U.S. assistance.