Russia officially agrees on disposal of excess weapon-grade plutonium

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ratified the US-Russia agreement on the disposal of excess weapon-grade plutonium. The Kremlin press service today said that Russia intends to spend up to 3.5 billion U.S. dollars on the programme, which is seen as a continuation of the new Russian-U.S. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that slashes arsenals of each country to 1,550 strategic warheads. The report also said the United States is expected to spend some 400 million dollars on the programme. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed in April 2010, a final agreement on eliminating excess weapon-grade plutonium from defense programs. Under the agreement, each side will dispose of 34 metric tons of excess plutonium, which is enough to create several thousand nuclear weapons. The programme is to be launched before 2018. The agreement was passed by the Russian State lower house of parliament on May 20 and upheld by the upper house on May 25, 2011. 

Courtesy : AIR