. "Investment and International Aspects of the Problem of Spent Nuclear Fuel Management." An International Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility -- Exploring a Russian Site as a Prototype: Proceedings of an International Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2005.
The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML.
Please use the page image
as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.
An International Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility: Exploring a Russian Site as a Prototype - Proceedings of an International Workshop
duction free of greenhouse gas emissions, and reduction in the risks of radioactive contamination. Cooperation between the United States and Russia is the most effective and efficient way to address these global political, economic, and social issues.
The best way to enforce this cooperation is through private-public partnership (PPP). This means private management under the U.S.-Russian agreement plus continuous consultations and problem solving in close cooperation with the governments of both countries and their respective agencies. PPP is a blend of international security, ecological improvement, and commercial interests.
The benefits of private versus public management are well understood in the United States, and the idea of private involvement is also becoming more popular in Russia. Minister Ryumiantsev of Minatom spoke recently about the necessity of private-sector involvement in and even partial privatization of the Russian nuclear industry.
CONCLUSIONS
U.S.-Russian SNF cooperation is highly beneficial to both countries and to the entire world.
The importance of U.S.-Russian cooperation is important beyond any other political or economic issues, such as Iraq or Iran, and it should not be used by either the United States or Russia to affect the other party in a way that may jeopardize this cooperation.
The leadership of nuclear superstates should come to an understanding of the precedence of this problem over other national interests of the United States and Russia.
A team of recognized experts in politics, security, and economics should be organized to prepare a report to the top leadership of the United States and Russia that will serve as a basis for the U.S.-Russian agreement to cooperate in the area of SNF management. (Our association, along with its U.S. partner, has already started working on organizing this team and has attracted to the project Harvard and Rice universities in the United States and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. To finance their work on this report as well as the respective research, private investment in this project is now required.)
