NZ cash to shut Russian reactor

William McCormick

New Zealand is contributing $500,000 to a United States-led project to shut down one of Russia's last Soviet-era nuclear reactors.

New Zealand and the US will today sign a memorandum of understanding which will result in both countries helping Russia to permanently shut down a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor at Zheleznogorsk.

US ambassador William McCormick said both New Zealand and the US recognised that the three remaining plutonium production reactors in Russia constituted a proliferation threat.

Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Phil Goff said the Zheleznogorsk reactor was old and produced enough plutonium as a by-product to create one nuclear weapon a week.

"The reactor is also unsafe. According to one expert, the Chernobyl reactor was an improvement on this model," he said.

Mr McCormick said the shutdown of the reactor at Zheleznogorsk was part of a series of multilateral initiatives the US was involved in to address non-proliferation, disarmament, counter-terrorism, and nuclear safety issues.

Mr Goff said the reactor would be replaced with a fossil fuel plant, and New Zealand's contribution would be used to ensure that it met the highest possible environmental standards.

Mr McCormick said New Zealand and the US would work with the Russian Government to construct replacement electricity generation capacity.

Mr Goff said the $500,000 funding was in addition to the $700,000 the country had committed this financial year to a British-led project to destroy chemical weapons at Shchuch'ye in Russia.

The $1.2 million New Zealand was spending this year was part of its contribution to the G8 Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, he said. This was on top of the $1.2 million New Zealand had committed previously to destroying chemical weapons of mass destruction in Russia.

- NZPA