MOSCOW: Russia closed down a plutonium producing reactor Sunday, marking a major milestone in U.S. nuclear nonproliferation efforts, a Russian news agency reported.
The U.S. and Russia have been working for years on arrangements to close Russia's three remaining weapons-grade plutonium producing reactors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of Russia's plutonium-producing reactors may be closed six months ahead of schedule this summer, a major milestone in U.S. nuclear nonproliferation efforts, a senior Energy Department official said Friday.
The official said Sergey Kiriyenko, the director of Russia's nuclear agency, Rosatom, told Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman during a 40-minute meeting Friday that shutting down the two reactors in the Siberian town of Seversk so soon was "realistic."
