| Article: 2940
From: [email protected] (GUY CHAZAN)
Newsgroups: clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.hot.ussr,clari.tw.nuclear
Subject: Russia will sell United States plutonium for space research
Date: 28 Dec 92 18:48:10 GMT
MOSCOW (UPI) -- In the first deal of its kind, Russia is ready to
export to the United States a consignment of plutonium isotope for use
in space research, the Russian news agency Itar-tass reported Monday.
The U.S. Department of Energy is reportedly negotiating to buy 88
pounds of radioactive plutonium-238 isotope from Russia's nuclear energy
industry for use in the U.S. space program.
The deal marks a modest success for Russia's defense industry as it
trys to make a sometimes painful switch to peacetime production and
seeks new markets for its goods.
Plutonium isotope radiates heat that can be easily transformed into
electricity, and is often used to power scientific apparatus in space
exploration. Plutonium-238 is not fissionable and cannot be used to make
nuclear weapons, unlike its slightly heavier cousin plutonium-239.
``The isotope can be used in space equipment where a long-lasting and
reliable electricity supply is needed,'' said Yevgeny Mekerin, head of
the Russian Nuclear Energy Ministry's isotope department.
Mekerin said the United States has its own plutonium-238 but the
Russian isotope is a better quality.
Plutonium-238 is manufactured at military factories in Chelyabinsk, a
Urals city 1,192 miles east of Moscow once closed to outsiders when it
produced weapons-grade plutonium for the former Soviet Union's nuclear
missiles.
``The enterprises started making plutonium-238 when military spending
was cut,'' Mekerin said. He said the isotopes are used in Russia as a source
of electric current for cardiostimulators and for other medical purposes.
The switch to manufacturing isotopes with no military application
shows how Russian defense factories, starved of state orders, are
converting to civilian production in an effort to survive the painful
shift to a market economy.
Russia has had some success selling its hi-tech space equipment to
other countries. Recently, it sold the United States a nuclear reactor
for use in space, and several joint projects are in the pipeline.
But attempts by the Nuclear Energy Ministry to market plutonium
isotopes abroad have been disappointing. With only very few countries engaged
in space research, the demand for such isotopes is low, Mekerin said.
The U.S. Energy Deparment contract, which should be ready in two to
three months, includes a pledge that the isotopes will only be used for
peaceful purposes, Mekerin said.
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