America's efforts to help Russia safeguard and shrink its sprawling, decaying nuclear empire need to be sharply accelerated. The possibility that some of Russia's more than 10,000 nuclear weapons or some of its plutonium and heavily enriched uranium could be diverted to a rogue state or terrorist group is not far-fetched. Nor is the risk that some of Russia's unpaid weapons scientists could be lured by foreign countries or criminal groups.
Over the past seven years, Washington, spurred by former Senator Sam Nunn and Senators Richard Lugar and Pete Domenici, has established helpful programs to use American money and expertise to improve the security of Russian nuclear installations and convert weapons laboratories, reactors and bomb plants to civilian purposes.
Nuclear warheads scattered across several former Soviet republics have been consolidated in Russia for dismantling and safekeeping. Much of Russia's nuclear weapons stockpile is now in secure facilities. Secure storage depots have been built for the plutonium and uranium removed from dismantled warheads. Significant quantities of bomb uranium have been blended down for sale as civilian reactor fuel. Internationally financed science centers have been established in Russia and Ukraine to provide work for weapons scientists.
But some crucial problems are not being adequately addressed. Converting the stored plutonium to a less dangerous form, once one of Washington's top goals, has been stalled by technical disputes over the most appropriate methods to use. Some additional funding for the method Russia prefers could allow conversion to proceed. The timetable for blending down bomb uranium is too slow and the science centers are severely underfinanced. Significant quantities of bomb fuel remain in six former Soviet republics and research reactors in two of them are still configured for bomb grade uranium.
Starting with the budget the Clinton Administration sends to Capitol Hill tomorrow, these programs to manage Russian nuclear dangers need to be expanded. Reportedly, the Administration will seek about $650 million for 1999 for the whole range of cooperative nuclear management programs with Russia, an increase of nearly 30 percent from current levels. Some of the new money is said to be earmarked for chemical weapons disposal, which is rightly included in the weapons management effort.
An additional one or two hundred million dollars
could expand the science centers and complete the
removal and conversion in other former Soviet
Republics and speed the commercialization of idle
weapons labs. America spent trillions of dollars
during the cold war to counter the threat of Soviet
nuclear weapons. For several billion dollars it can
now help get Russia's nuclear weapons and materials safely under control. It is an investment well
worth making.
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company