Presently, United States support of Russian SSBN dismantlement is largely channeled through the U.S. Department of Defense/Cooperative Threat Reduction (DOD/CTR) submarine dismantlement program. This program has only dismantled Russian SSBNs and does not have the mandate to dismantle decommissioned Russian general-purpose submarines. Under this program, the U.S. has spent about $250 million to provide needed infrastructure at three different sites for the physical dismantlement of Russian SSBNs and management of associated radioactive wastes. Under applicable CTR agreements and direct assistance by DOD/CTR, Russian naval shipyards have already dismantled 18 SSBNs and are now under contract to dismantle 8 more SSBNs. DOD/CTR expects to finish the dismantlement of 31 SSBNs in order to comply with the START I Treaty. We do not propose use of CTR funds for environmental restoration in Russia because CTR has focused on mitigating the latent strategic threat posed by decommissioned Russian SSBNs. Other programs could be better suited toward addressing environmental security threats posed by decommissioned Russian general-purpose submarines, spent nuclear fuel, and associated waste. However, the United States presently lacks a legal umbrella agreement with Russia that would cover any projected cooperative activities beyond the strategic systems dismantlement covered by the CTR agreement and program.

Russia has requested the United States to support the dismantlement of about 100 decommissioned general-purpose submarines (both attack submarines (SSNs) and guided-missile submarines (SSGNs)). In response, a Russian Federation/U.S. study group was established to assess the condition of the general-purpose submarines to be dismantled; identify the existing dismantlement capabilities and infrastructure; and estimate the cost and schedule for such work. The United States is waiting for information from the Russian side in order to complete this work.

In addition to the CTR program, the United States is participating in a trilateral (Norway, Russia, and the U.S.) effort to mitigate the impact of military operations in the fragile arctic environment under the venue of the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation (AMEC) program. AMEC was officially established on September 26, 1996 in response to Norway’s concern over the dumping of radioactive waste in the Arctic Ocean and neighboring seas by the Soviet Union, decommissioned nuclear submarines in a poor state of repair, and the large amounts of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in Northwest Russia. AMEC has eighteen projects addressing five radioactive waste program areas (spent nuclear fuel, liquid waste, solid waste volume reduction, solid waste storage technologies, and radiation monitoring and personnel safety) and two non-radioactive waste program areas (remediation technologies and clean ship technologies). Funding for this program amounts to $25 million from the U.S. for FY97 though FY02. Norway has allocated $5 million for AMEC projects, and Russia’s contribution is estimated at $3.4 million for FY99 and FY00 plus "in kind contributions."

The Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is actively involved in spent and fresh naval fuel storage and safeguard programs. In the area of long-term spent nuclear fuel disposition, NNSA is supporting the efforts of MINATOM to explore the feasibility of constructing a geologic repository for the final disposition of spent nuclear fuel. With the Department of Defense, NNSA is assisting MINATOM to develop dry storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel at Mayak. These facilities will replace poorly designed and constructed wet storage facilities. Further, this may negate the need to reprocess future shipments of spent nuclear fuel to this same site and possibly also eliminate a potential bottleneck in the submarine dismantlement process. In response to a request from the Russian Federation, NNSA conducted a feasibility study of a Russian submarine dismantlement facility in the Russian Far East. The study has been completed, and no further work is planned. The NNSA Materials Protection Control & Accounting (MPC&A) program is installing safeguard technology at Russian naval sites where fresh fuel is stored.

The United States has also provided funding for a small number of projects focused on low-level liquid radioactive waste and temporary spent fuel storage. In particular, the Department of State and the Environmental Protection Agency have supported a multilateral funded project to develop an 80-tonne transportable storage cask for spent nuclear fuel. This fuel from marine reactors is damaged or otherwise cannot be reprocessed in Russia and currently is stored on the floating vessels, Lepse and Lotta, in Murmansk harbor. State has provided modest funding, while EPA has provided the technical management, with the support of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This project, is partially suspended, as explained in Section IV. Also, State and EPA, along with Norway, have funded the expansion and upgrade of a low-level liquid radioactive waste processing facility in Murmansk, Russia. Brookhaven National Laboratory has provided technical support.

Further, the U.S. participates in the International Atomic Energy Agency - Contact Experts Group for International Radioactive Waste Projects in the Russian Federation (IAEA-CEG). DOE leads the U.S. delegation, and State, DOD, and EPA are active participants. The main focus is to coordinate international cooperation among nine Partner Nations (U.S., Russian Federation, Norway, Sweden, Finland, UK, France, Germany, and Belgium) in Russian radioactive waste management and to enhance the safety of waste management practices in Russia and its environs. International cooperative efforts are aimed at several issues including radiation safety and environmental, technical, legal, organizational, and financial matters. At the request of the U.S. delegation, the IAEA-CEG has established a Strategy Working Group to prepare detailed technical analyses of the administrative and technical infrastructure available within Russia to manage these materials and to identify gaps where international support could be applied.