Soviet Nuclear Weapons

The Defense Department has earmarked more than $300 million to help improve the safety and security of former Soviet nuclear weapons and materials and to prevent its proliferation. Although the Russians have ruled out direct U.S. involvement in the dismantling of Soviet bombs and warheads, the United States is seeking to help the former Soviet republics destroy missile delivery vehicles, and, in a related effort, the United States and Russia have agreed to cooperate in converting highly enriched uranium in former Soviet weapons into reactor fuel for possible sale to the United States. Despite these positive steps, significant gaps remain in the U.S. understanding of how to best deal with the legacy of the Soviet nuclear arsenal. Russia's request for U.S. help in building a fissile material storage facility has raised questions about cost and other issues, and the United States has deferred selecting an approach for the long-term disposition of Russian plutonium until more can be learned about various technologies. Moreover, it is still too early to determine precisely how the United States would integrate converted Russian highly enriched uranium into U.S. reactor fuel enrichment operations.