[ RadSafe ] Liability Limbo Threatens Loose Nukes Programs

[Gerry Blackwood]

Liability Limbo Threatens 

Loose Nukes Programs 

 

FOR RELEASE: May 6, 2005 

CONTACT: Kenneth Luongo, (215) 523-9041 or Bill Hoehn, (202) 332-1412 

 

(Washington DC) - RANSAC, an international security organization dedicated to the effective control and elimination of weapons of mass destruction, today called on Presidents Bush and Putin to solve the continuing U.S.-Russia disagreement on liability protections under joint nuclear security agreements during their meeting in Moscow this weekend.  

 

Kenneth Luongo, RANSAC's Executive Director, stated "Winning the war on terror requires effectively securing and eliminating WMD so they do not fall into hostile hands.  The disagreement on liability protections is stalling U.S.-Russian progress to dispose of dangerous weapons-grade plutonium and reemploy weapons scientists.  It threatens the continuation of major nuclear, chemical, and biological security efforts next year."  

 

Luongo added, "A crisis is looming.  If the Presidents can't break the log jam then the Congress must take steps in this year's legislation to demand a rapid resolution of this issue."  

 

Failure to resolve this legal issue has prevented construction of key facilities in the United States and Russia to dispose of 68 tons of weapons-grade plutonium and limited contributions to the effort by other nations.  

 

Moreover, as RANSAC argued in a recent article,  http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=ma05luongothe   

 

U.S.-Russian dispute over the liability provisions could derail the extension of the U.S.-Russian Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Umbrella Agreement governing all "Nunn-Lugar" programs.  This broad agreement provides the legal framework for much of the U.S. nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons security assistance to Russia and governs the annual expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars.  It expires in June, 2006.

 

The dispute over liability has been ongoing for almost two years.  Even if the plutonium disposition liability issue is resolved in the near future, prospects for extending the broader CTR agreement would still remain in question, as that accord contains liability language Russia has rejected during the plutonium-related liability discussions.

 



"Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality."