Annual
Report to Congress on the
Safety and Security of Russian Nuclear
Facilities and Military Forces
February
2002
Scope
Note
Congress
has directed the Director of Central Intelligence
(DCI) to submit to the Congressional leadership
and intelligence committees an annual, unclassified
report assessing the safety and security of the
nuclear facilities and military forces in Russia.
Congress further asked that each report include
a discussion of the following:
-
The
ability of the Russian Government to maintain
its nuclear military forces.
-
The
security arrangements at Russia’s civilian
and military nuclear facilities.
-
The
reliability of controls and safety systems
at Russia’s civilian nuclear facilities.
-
The reliability of command and control systems
and procedures of the nuclear military forces
in Russia.
This
annual report is the third responding to this
Congressional request. The report addresses facilities
and forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense,
the Ministry of Atomic Energy, and other Russian
institutes. It updates the September 2000 report
to Congress.
This
paper has been prepared under the auspices of
the National Intelligence Officer for Strategic
and Nuclear Programs.
Key
Points
Annual
Report to Congress on the Safety and Security
of Russian Nuclear Facilities and Military Forces
Moscow
will continue to devote scarce resources to maintaining
its nuclear forces. Nevertheless, the aging
of Russia's strategic systems and Putin's military
reform plan to shift resources to the general
purpose forces probably will result in Russia
having fewer than 2,000 strategic warheads by
2015. Even with ongoing reductions, Moscow
probably will retain several thousand nonstrategic
nuclear warheads in its inventory because of concerns
over its deteriorating conventional capabilities.
Russia
employs physical, procedural, and technical measures
to secure its weapons against an external threat,
but many of these measures date from the Soviet
era and are not designed to counter the pre-eminent
threat faced today—an insider who attempts unauthorized
actions.
-
Moscow
has maintained adequate security and control
of its nuclear weapons, but
a decline in military funding has stressed
the nuclear security system. An unauthorized
launch or accidental use of a Russian nuclear
weapon is highly unlikely as long as current
technical and procedural safeguards built
into the command and control system remain
in place and are effectively enforced. Our
concerns about possible circumvention of the
system would rise if central political authority
broke down.
Security
varies widely among the different types of Ministry
of Atomic Energy (Minatom) facilities and other
Russian institutes.
-
Russian
facilities housing weapons-usable nuclear
material—uranium enriched to 20 percent
or greater in uranium-235 or uranium-233 isotopes
and any plutonium containing less than 80
percent of the isotope plutonium-238—typically
receive low funding, lack trained security
personnel, and do not have sufficient equipment
for securely storing such material.
Weapons-grade
and weapons-usable nuclear materials have been
stolen from some Russian institutes. We assess
that undetected smuggling has occurred, although
we do not know the extent or magnitude of such
thefts. Nevertheless, we are concerned about the
total amount of material that could have been
diverted over the last 10 years.
-
In
1992, 1.5 kilograms of 90-percent-enriched
weapons-grade uranium were stolen
from the Luch Production Association.
-
In 1994, 3.0 kilograms of 90-percent-enriched
weapons-grade uranium were stolen in
Moscow.
-
In
1999, we confirmed that nuclear material seized
in Bulgaria was weapons-usable. The
material—four grams of highly enriched uranium—likely
originated in Russia.
-
Although not independently confirmed, reports
of a theft in 1998 from an unnamed enterprise
in Chelyabinsk Oblast are of concern. According
to Viktor Yerastov, chief of Minatom's Nuclear
Materials Accounting and Control Department,
the amount stolen was "quite sufficient
material to produce an atomic bomb"—the
only nuclear theft that has been so described.
Over
the last six years, Moscow has recognized the
need for security improvements and, with assistance
from the United States and other countries, has
taken steps to reduce the risk of theft.
-
On
their own initiative in 1999, 2000, and in
mid-summer 2001, Russian authorities ordered
increased security at nuclear facilities due
to concerns about a reported increased terrorist
threat as a result of Moscow’s campaign in
Chechnya, according to official statements
and media reporting.
-
Since the September 2001 terrorist attacks
in the United States, Russian officials, including
President Putin, have conducted a public campaign
to provide assurances that terrorists have
not acquired Russian nuclear weapons.
Through
the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and the
US Department of Energy’s Material Protection,
Control, and Accounting Program, the United States
continues to assist Russia in improving security
at nuclear facilities. Russia’s nuclear security
has been slowly improving over the last several
years, but risks remain.
Russia
has announced plans to more than double its capacity
to generate nuclear power over the next 20 years
and to begin construction of reactors with enhanced
safety features. Since July 2001, Russian media
have reported increased security measures at a
number of nuclear power plants. Even with increased
security measures, however, such plants almost
certainly will remain vulnerable to a well-planned
and executed terrorist attack.
-
After
the September terrorist attacks in the United
States, Minister of Atomic Energy Rumyantsev
reported that Russian nuclear power facilities
are protected by special guards patrolling
around the clock in addition to national defense
forces. An official of Rosenergoatom reported
on 12 September 2001 that security services
at the nuclear power plants already were working
a “harsh regime” because of the continuing
military actions in Chechnya and that additional
security measures were not necessary.
Discussion
Since
the breakup of the Soviet Union, the security
environment surrounding nuclear weapons and materials
in Russia has changed radically. Security measures
in both the Ministries of Defense (MOD) and Atomic
Energy (Minatom) during the Soviet era were aimed
at preventing the external or outsider threat;
it was virtually unthinkable that an insider would
attempt to steal a nuclear weapon or nuclear material.
In contrast, the deterioration of the Russian
economy, state security apparatus, and military
has resulted in an entirely new security environment—one
in which concern about an insider threat predominates.
The Russians have reacted to this new threat by
instituting some new security procedures at their
nuclear facilities, including instituting polygraph
examinations.
Over
the last three years, we have seen Moscow elevate
its concern about the security of its nuclear
weapons and materials. Russian authorities ordered
increased security due to concerns over a growing
terrorist threat resulting from Moscow’s campaign
in Chechnya, according to official statements
and media reporting.
-
In
November 2000, the Russian Government instructed
Minatom and other federal executive agencies
to implement additional measures to step up
the physical security of nuclear installations,
including modernizing security systems. Minatom—along
with the MOD, the Federal Security Service,
and the Ministry of Internal Affairs—was to
evaluate external and internal threats to
nuclear installations and develop physical
security enhancements.
-
In
addition, immediately following the September
terrorist attacks in the United States, Russian
President Putin called for the Russian military
and security services to heighten security,
according to Russian media.
The
United States is working cooperatively with Moscow
to increase the safety and security of nuclear-related
facilities, infrastructure, and personnel. The
Russian MOD is responsible for the nuclear military
forces and its nuclear weapons storage system.
Minatom operates the national nuclear weapons
complex, conducts weapons-related tests at the
MOD’s nuclear test site, and controls most nuclear-related
institutes and industrial facilities. Minatom
and Rosenergoatom operate Russia’s nuclear power
reactors.
-
The
US Department of Defense, through the Cooperative
Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, is assisting
MOD and Minatom.
-
The
US Department of Energy, through the Material
Protection, Control, and Accounting (MPC&A)
Program, exchanges between the US national
laboratories and Russian components, and the
Nuclear Cities Initiative, is providing security
assistance to Minatom; Rosenergoatom; the
Russian Navy; Gosatomnadzor (GAN); and the
Ministries of Interior, Education, and Economy.
Ministry
of Defense
Nuclear
Weapons Inventory
Moscow
currently maintains fewer than 5,000 operational
strategic nuclear warheads in its strategic nuclear
triad, which is composed of ICBMs, submarine-launched
ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers carrying
nuclear-tipped air-launched cruise missiles. Despite
the emphasis on nuclear weapons as Russia’s primary
means of deterrence, Russian strategic nuclear
forces are subject to the same significant budget
constraints affecting other portions of the government.
The strategic forces will face additional budget
cuts, resulting in lower strategic warhead levels,
because Putin’s military reform plan will shift
resources to the general purpose forces. Nevertheless,
Moscow continues to devote scarce resources to
maintaining and modernizing its forces.
-
Russian officials have claimed publicly that
the harsh economic realities and aging of
strategic systems will drive their strategic
forces down to fewer than 2,000 warheads.
Russia has increased efforts in recent years
to extend the service lives of most strategic
systems in order to maintain as many warheads
as possible.
-
Until
recently, one of Russia’s highest military
priorities has been the deployment of its
most modern ICBM, the SS-27/Topol’-M. Twenty
single-warhead SS-27s were deployed by the
end of 1999. Russia planned to deploy ten
additional missiles by the end of 2000, but
only half were deployed. Deputy Prime Minister
Klebanov said last October that Russia would
deploy a minimum of six missiles annually
over the next decade.
Nuclear
Warhead Security
The
Russians have maintained security and control
of their nuclear warheads and weapons, although
the economic crisis of the 1990s and the consequent
decline in military funding have stressed the
country’s nuclear security system.
-
Russia
currently uses essentially the same nuclear
command and control system built by the Soviet
Union, whose military and political leaders—concerned
about the possibility of an unauthorized launch—built
a highly centralized system with technical
and procedural safeguards. We judge that an
unauthorized launch or accidental use of a
Russian nuclear weapon is highly unlikely
as long as those safeguards remain in place.
A breakdown of central political authority,
however, would raise our concerns about possible
circumvention of the system.
-
Since
the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Moscow
has consolidated all nuclear weapons of the
former Soviet stockpile into storage sites
in Russia. We assess that by June 1992, the
last of the former Soviet tactical nuclear
warheads were withdrawn to Russia, and that
by the end of 1996, the last of the strategic
nuclear warheads had been removed from Kazakhstan,
Ukraine, and Belarus.
Russian
officials have stated that thousands of nuclear
warheads from the former Soviet stockpile have
been dismantled since 1991; reportedly over 10,000
warheads have been eliminated.
-
Bilateral
agreements between Ukraine and Russia called
for the elimination of some 4,500 nuclear
warheads—both nonstrategic and strategic—that
were once stored on the territory of Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials reportedly monitored the
disassembly of these nuclear warheads at the
Russian dismantlement facilities. Press reports
indicate that the Ukrainian nuclear warheads
were eliminated by 2000.
Moscow
is significantly reducing its nonstrategic nuclear
stockpile. In October 1991, then-Soviet President
Gorbachev, responding to a US presidential initiative,
announced that the Soviet Union would unilaterally
consolidate most of its nonstrategic nuclear warheads
in central depots and would eliminate a major
portion of them. In January 1992, President Yel'tsin
publicly reaffirmed Gorbachev’s announcement.
Although Russia has taken some actions to fulfill
these pledges, Moscow—because of concerns over
deteriorating conventional capabilities—probably
will retain several thousand nonstrategic nuclear
warheads through at least 2015.
Physical
Security. To secure their weapons, the
Russians employ a multi-layered approach that
includes physical, procedural, and technical measures.
The security system was designed in the Soviet
era to protect weapons primarily against a threat
from outside the country and may not be sufficient
to meet today’s challenge of a knowledgeable insider
collaborating with a criminal or terrorist group.
General-Colonel Igor Valynkin, chief of the 12th
Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (12th
GUMO)—the organization responsible for warhead
storage, maintenance, and logistics—stated in
August 2000 that there have been no incidents
of attempted theft, seizure, or unauthorized actions
involving nuclear weapons.
Since
the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United
States, President Putin and Valynkin have conducted
a public campaign to provide assurances that terrorists
have not acquired Russian nuclear weapons.
-
Valynkin
announced on 25 October that security had
been stepped up at Russian nuclear weapons
storage sites since the attacks on the United
States. He also noted that security had been
heightened earlier in the year after Russian
authorities had twice thwarted terrorist efforts
to reconnoiter nuclear weapons storage sites.
Valynkin stated that none of the terrorists
entered the nuclear weapons sites.
-
At
a subsequent press conference on 27 October,
Valynkin was adamant that no Russian nuclear
weapons had been stolen and described such
allegations as “barking mad.” He reiterated
that nuclear warhead personnel are subject
to psychological, lie detector, drug, and
alcohol testing.
-
In a 10 November interview, President Putin
said he was “absolutely confident” that terrorists
in Afghanistan do not have Soviet or Russian
weapons of mass destruction.
Over
the last six years, Moscow has recognized the
need for security improvements and, with US assistance,
has taken steps to reduce the risk of theft. We
judge that nuclear security would improve over
time if Russia routinely implemented security
upgrades and procedures under US-funded threat
reduction programs. Some of the key US-funded
security upgrade programs include:
-
Perimeter security upgrades around nuclear
storage sites, including fences, sensors,
and alarms.
-
Computers
to automate the warhead inventory management
system.
-
Transportation
upgrades to railcars and the provision of
supercontainers and Kevlar blankets for shipment
of warheads to increase their protection from
small-arms fire.
-
Training and equipment for Emergency Response
Teams for nuclear accidents.
Valynkin
has admitted that a lack of domestic funding has
made Russia dependent on foreign assistance for
physical security upgrades. Quoting Valynkin,
an August 2000 press report stated that the United
States is financing the procurement of security
systems for the MOD. The newspaper also described
Valynkin as troubled because only a third of the
new equipment had been put into service due to
funding shortages. Despite the lack of funds,
however, the chief of the MOD’s Special Construction
Troops reported in December 2000 that security
enhancements were being completed at dozens of
nuclear facilities.
Even
with the enhancements, security problems may still
exist at the nuclear weapons storage sites. In
August 2001, an anonymous military officer claimed
in a Russian television program interview that
security was lax at 12th GUMO sites.
The officer outlined a number of problems at the
storage sites, including charges that there are
personnel shortages and that alarms systems operate
only 50 percent of the time. The officer speculated
that a terrorist organization could seize a nuclear
warhead.
Personnel
Reliability. Much like other parts of
the military, the Strategic Rocket Forces and
the 12th GUMO have also suffered from
wage arrears as well as shortages of food and
housing allowances. In 1997, the 12th
GUMO closed a nuclear weapons storage site due
to hunger strikes by the workers; in 1998, families
of several nuclear units protested over wage and
benefit arrears. According to Russian press, the
MOD addressed most of the arrears by early 1999,
and wages are now paid regularly. Even when paid,
however, officers’ wages rarely exceed $70 a month
and wives cannot earn a second income because
the storage sites are usually located far from
cities, according to the anonymous 12th
GUMO officer.
-
Housing
for 12th GUMO personnel is of poor
quality or nonexistent. According to the Chief
of Staff of the 12th GUMO, there
are 9,500 homeless active duty and retired
officers. The poor living conditions of the
officers—who contend with lack of heating,
leaky plumbing, and deteriorating buildings—have
been reported by Russian press.
Moscow
has acknowledged the potential vulnerability of
its nuclear security personnel. In October 1998,
General Valynkin referenced serious incidents
that had occurred at some of his subordinate facilities
and stated that more stringent selection criteria
for nuclear warhead personnel would be used. Speaking
at a press conference concerning US CTR funding
in February 1999, Valynkin acknowledged, “the
greatest problem is the person who works with
nuclear warheads. He knows the secrets, he has
the access, he knows the security system.”
-
Valynkin
emphasized that personnel are thoroughly screened
for links to the crime world and for their
suitability to work with warheads.
-
He added that the 12th GUMO would
be using US CTR-provided polygraph equipment
and drug and alcohol tests to monitor the
reliability of its personnel. In May 2000,
Valynkin stated that two students at the 12th
GUMO’s Security Assessment Training Center
were expelled as a result of the drug tests.
-
Valynkin
also reported in May 2000 that the MOD is
changing warhead transport security operations
by using officers rather than enlisted personnel
because across the entire MOD, during that
month alone, seven sentries had left their
posts.
Ministry of Atomic
Energy
Nuclear
Materials Security
Russian
officials recognize the need to improve the security
of weapons-usable nuclear materials that we assess
are stored in over 300 buildings at over 40 facilities
across the country. After a cabinet meeting on
the topic in September 2000, Prime Minister Kasyanov
stated publicly that protection of fissile materials
varies from place to place and that in some cases
the material is endangered. At the same press
conference, a Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy
noted that reported attempts to steal fissile
materials had dropped significantly in recent
years. He said that whereas there were 21 such
reports from 1991 to 1994, there were only two
from 1995 to 1999. The Deputy Minister also criticized
Western press reports for exaggerating the problem.
-
Minatom officials provided no details about
the incidents and have not subsequently provided
updated data for 2000 and 2001. There have
been, however, a number of press reports about
materials seized in Russia about which we
have no further information because Russia
typically does not reveal the results of its
investigations.
Press
reports, in fact, generally overstate the impact
of stolen material, often referring to or implying
that depleted, natural, or low-enriched uranium
are weapons-grade or weapons-usable material.[1]
-
Weapons-usable material is defined as uranium
enriched to 20 percent or greater in the uranium-235
or uranium-233 isotopes (highly enriched uranium—HEU)
and any plutonium containing less than 80
percent of the isotope plutonium-238.
-
Weapons-grade
material is typically defined as uranium enriched
to greater than 90 percent uranium-235 or
uranium-233, or plutonium-239 containing less
than 6 percent plutonium-240.
Russian
institutes have lost weapons-grade and weapons-usable
nuclear materials in thefts.
-
In 1992, 1.5 kilograms of 90-percent-enriched
weapons-grade uranium were stolen from the
Luch Production Association.
-
In 1994, 3.0 kilograms of 90-percent-enriched
weapons-grade uranium were stolen in Moscow.
-
In
1999, we confirmed that a Bulgarian seizure
of nuclear material was weapons-usable. The
material—four grams of HEU—likely originated
in Russia.
-
Although
not independently confirmed, reports of a
theft in 1998 from an unnamed enterprise in
Chelyabinsk Oblast are of concern. According
to Viktor Yerastov, chief of Minatom's Nuclear
Materials Accounting and Control Department,
the amount stolen was "quite sufficient
material to produce an atomic bomb"—the
only nuclear theft that has been so described.
The
reduction in seizures of stolen material and in
reported theft attempts may be due to several
factors: US assistance to improve security at
Russian facilities, a possible decrease in smuggling,
or smugglers becoming more knowledgeable about
evading detection. We assess that undetected smuggling
has occurred, although we do not know the extent
or magnitude of undetected thefts. Nevertheless,
we are concerned about the total amount of material
that could have been diverted over the last 10
years.
Efforts
To Improve Physical Security and Safeguards.
Prior to DOE assistance to enhance safeguards
and security, Russian MPC&A practices did
not meet internationally accepted standards. Russian
facilities housing nuclear materials typically
receive low funding, lack trained security personnel,
and do not have sufficient equipment for securely
storing nuclear materials. The DOE-administered
MPC&A program, as well as other programs,
is assisting the former Soviet states to upgrade
safeguards (accountability and control) over nuclear
materials and physical security at a wide range
of nuclear facilities. For example:
-
A
US-funded computer system to handle inventory
reporting to Minatom headquarters began to
come on-line at pilot facilities in mid-2001
and will require officials to track materials
closely to better assure timely detection
in the event of a loss or diversion.
-
The
US Department of Defense is helping Russia
to build a state-of-the-art storage facility
for long-term secure storage of plutonium
and HEU from dismantled nuclear weapons.
-
Russia
and the United States have broadened their
cooperative work to include securing Russian
Navy highly enriched uranium reactor fuel
at three naval land-based storage sites.
-
The United States is purchasing 500 MT of
HEU—$12 billion over a 20-year period—which
Russia is blending down into low-enriched
uranium suitable for use in nuclear power
reactors.
-
A new DOE/Minatom effort seeks to convert
highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium
under the MPC&A Program’s Material Consolidation
and Conversion initiative.
-
DOE has implemented a sustainability program
to assist with maintenance, training, and
operation of the upgraded physical security
systems in response to Russian budgetary problems
and potential neglect of equipment.
In
mid-2001 DOE reported that by the end of FY 2001
"comprehensive" security upgrades would
have expanded to cover an estimated 21 percent
of Russia’s weapons-usable nuclear material, and
that if facilities protected by “rapid upgrades”
were added, the percentage would increase to 48.[2] When the upgrades currently underway are completed,
the portion of material with improved security
will increase to approximately 65 percent. Progress
is most advanced at civilian institutes and Russian
Navy sites, and lags at Minatom facilities within
the nuclear weapons complex—which contain most
of the material of proliferation interest—because
Russian security concerns prevent direct US access
to sensitive materials.
-
The
progress at civilian and naval sites addresses
key vulnerabilities because seizures involving
HEU and separated plutonium have been linked
to these locations rather than nuclear weapons
assembly/disassembly plants.
-
Russia’s nuclear MPC&A has been slowly
improving over the last several years, but
risks remain.
Economics
and Personnel Reliability. Even after
technical modernization, security for weapons-usable
nuclear material depends largely on the diligence,
competence, and morale of personnel who monitor
systems and guard material and facilities and
on managers who must emphasize security over production.
Programs to improve physical security, accountability,
and training could be undermined by disgruntled
Russian personnel or unreceptive managers and
employees.
Because
of improvements in the national economy, Russia
and Minatom are now able to pay personnel on time.
Thus, for now, compensation and benefits appear
adequate, and personnel no longer face the financial
pressures of the late 1990s that might have led
some to permit or actively participate in weapons-usable
nuclear material theft.
Convenience
and pressure to produce also can contribute to
lapses in security. US Government Accounting Office
auditors noted in their February 2001 report that,
at one facility, a gate in a fence emplaced with
US aid around a weapons-usable nuclear material
storage building was routinely left open and unguarded
during the day. Russian officials explained that
it was simply too much trouble for the employees
to open and close the combination lock repeatedly
as they entered and left the building. This practice,
however, undermined control of access and meant
that the only security measures in effect were
the perimeter fence and guards at the facility.
Safety
at Russian Nuclear Material Processing Facilities
Russian
HEU facilities have at least three levels of contamination
control.
-
Level
one denotes an area of essentially no contamination.
-
Level
two denotes an area of lower contamination
where personnel are required to wear protective
clothing and masks, but extensive monitoring
is not required. Such areas include oxide
purification, calcining, container storage,
and fluorination.
-
Level
three denotes an area of high contamination
that requires protective clothing and masks,
and requires extensive monitoring to reduce
the spread of contamination. Such areas include
metal machining and oxidation.
The
monitoring of personnel radiation safety is also
a multi-layered process.
-
Workers
and visitors are required to wear the standard
Russian particulate control mask while in
nuclear facilities. In addition, shoes and
protective clothing (hats, gloves, lab coats,
and in the chemical metallurgical areas full
body protective clothing) are provided.
-
Radiation
dosimeters are available and generally are
used by Russians and visitors to their plants.
Radiation- monitoring devices mounted along
the walls are present in areas of HEU operations,
along with air-sampling ports.
-
Personnel and visitors are required to wash
their hands when leaving contaminated areas;
then both hands and feet are checked by an
alpha radiation detector.
Another
safety program is criticality safety—the process
established to prevent the initiation of self-sustaining
nuclear chain reaction. There are two main types
of controls used to prevent criticality accidents:
administrative controls and physical controls.
-
Administrative
controls refer to a series of rules and regulations
that limit how much material may be in a specific
type of container or location to prevent a
critical mass from forming.
-
Physical controls—such as the use of specially
sized and configured pipes or designated storage
locations that ensure proper spacing—are designed
to separate fissile material and prevent
a critical mass.
Russian
nuclear facilities predominantly use physical
controls, which are the more stringent and secure
of the two types of controls, although we question
whether they routinely follow their own rules.
Safety
and Security at Russian Civilian Nuclear Power
Plants
Russia
has announced plans to more than double its capacity
to generate nuclear power over the next 20 years,
to begin construction of reactors with enhanced
safety features, and to restart its long-dormant
fast breeder reactor program. The funding has
not yet been allocated. To fulfill the plan, Russia
will have to extend the lives of the first-generation
plants, which presents some risk to the safety
of individuals living near them.
-
Russian RBMK and VVER-440 and -1000 reactors
are aging and seven first-generation Russian
nuclear power reactors will reach the end
of their service lives within the next five
years.
-
A major continuing problem for the Russian
nuclear power industry is the failure of its
customers to pay for electricity, which has
contributed to a lack of resources for maintenance,
spare parts, and salaries.
Western
assistance has been improving the safety systems
and operating procedures at Soviet-designed nuclear
reactors. However, inherent design deficiencies
in RBMK and older model VVER reactors will prevent
them from ever meeting Western safety standards.
-
The
Most notable design flaw is the lack of Western-style
containment structure to prevent the release
of fission products in the event of a serious
accident.
-
Other
serious design shortcomings include poor fire
safety and undersized emergency core cooling
systems.
-
Another
potential disastrous flaw in the VVER reactors
is the susceptibility of its reactor pressure
vessels to become brittle because of radiation,
thermal changes, and mechanical vibrations.
This gradual loss of malleability, which particularly
affects the welds, could cause the container
to crack and rupture, especially during an
emergency shutdown when the vessel is suddenly
filled with comparatively cold water.
After
the September terrorist attacks in the United
States, Minister of Atomic Energy Aleksandr Rumyantsev
reported that Russian nuclear power facilities
are protected by special guards patrolling around
the clock in addition to national defense forces.
A Rosenergoatom official reported on 12 September
2001 that security services at the nuclear power
plants are already working a “harsh regime” because
of the continuing military actions in Chechnya
and that additional security measures were not
necessary. Since July, Russian media have reported
increased security measures at a number of plants:
-
The
Voronezh Oblast decided to reinforce security
at the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant. The
Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the
Oblast was to coordinate with the Federal
Security Service to ensure adequate protection
of the plant’s perimeter, and trees and vegetation
around the plant were to be cut down.
-
An
exercise was conducted at the Volgodonsk nuclear
power plant to practice preventing a terrorist
act. The exercise involved plant personnel
and units from the power ministries.
-
The
Kola nuclear power station stepped up security.
Internal troops were continually patrolling
the perimeter, additional checkpoints had
been set up, and armored personnel carriers
were available to respond to a call.
-
In Rostov, an FSB spokesman said his agency
and other law enforcement officials had learned
of possible extremist threats to nuclear installations
in the region and were enhancing protection
of the nuclear power plant.
Even
with increased security, however, Russian nuclear
power plants almost certainly will remain vulnerable
to a well-planned and executed terrorist attack.
Footnotes
[1]
In contrast, non-weapons-grade nuclear material
thefts, particularly containers of radionuclides
such as cesium-137 or strontium-90, have been
frequent and well documented. Terrorists could
use these radionuclides to build a radiological
dispersal device (RDD). An RDD is defined as
a device designed to disperse radioactive material
to cause injury and contamination by means of
the radiation. Reportedly, Chechen terrorists
placed a container holding a small amount of
cesium-137 in a Moscow Park in November 1995.
Remarking on this event, General Dudayev, the
former leader of the Chechen independence movement,
stated "[this] is just a scant portion
of the radioactive substances which we have
at our disposal."