Russia Hopes To Go Nuclear In The UK -but spends $3.2 billion dollars on nuclear arms- Ploughshares

Russia Hopes To Go Nuclear In The UK 

Russia’s state-owned nuclear power companies are hoping to convince U.K. legislators to allow them to build nuclear power plants, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Monday.

The U.K. has 16 nuclear reactors at nine nuclear power plants, generating about one sixth of the United Kingdom’s electricity. In October 2010, the British government gave the green light to building up to eight new nuclear power plants in the country, a year and a half after the nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant owned byTokyo Electric Power caused much of the world to turn on the controversial clean burning super fuel.

Last year, Russia and Bangladesh signed an to build that country’s first nuclear power plant by Russian nuclear power company Rosatam. Russia also supplies the fuel, so Bangladesh is not enriching uranium.

As of July 2012, there were 435 nuclear power plants in operation around the world.  The U.S. has the most with 104. Russia is third with 33 and the U.K. has 13.  Japan is number two with 50 nuclear power stations in operation.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/10/29/russia-hopes-to-go-nuclear-in-the-uk/

Russia to Spend $3.2 Billion on Nuclear Arms Before 2016

A preliminary state spending plan calls for Russia to spend nearly $3.2 billion on its atomic arsenal before 2015 concludes, Russian Duma defense panel head Vladimir Komoedov said in a statement reported by Vedomosti on Thursday.

Assembling a new class of ballistic missile submarines would account in part for heightened navy expenditures, while the acquisition of Yars systems and the preparation of two additionalICBM models would contribute to expenses for the Russian strategic missile forces, according to the publication.

Meanwhile, Moscow is set before January to finish providing Topol-M ICBM units to theTatishchev division of its strategic missile forces, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported on Thursday. The division’s Topol-M holdings are based in fixed launch facilities, according to the newspaper.

The formation in 1998 began receiving the armaments, which are expected to supplant some of its RS-18 Stiletto missiles. The division is slated by the beginning of 2013 to oversee six Topol regiments and four RS-18 units in Russia’s Saratov region.

Up-to-date, multiple-warhead ICBMs are slated in coming years to stand in for Topol missiles and other older weapons in five of Russia’s strategic missile forces divisions, the publication said.

http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/russia-spend-32-billion-nuclear-arms-2016/

U.S. and Russia Nuclear Security Headed Toward Uncertain Future

BY JEFFREY ZHU
OCTOBER 29, 2012

PLoughshares USA

(Video)

On October 17, Russia successfully launched a newly designed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), with President Putin on hand to personally oversee the event.

Dmitri V. Trenin, a military analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, stated that Putin’s involvement was likely aimed at fulfilling campaign pledges for greater military spending, and is aimed at improving public confidence in him rather than to threaten Western onlookers:  “Two things he needs badly are to continue to support the people who depend on the federal budget, in terms of pay raises, and at the same time to support the military.” Other analysts, such as Pavel Podvig, a researcher with the Russian Nuclear Forces Project, attributed Putin’s participation as simply uniqueness of his character, that he enjoys things such as pushing buttons and sitting front row to all of the action.

Whatever the case, it’s the second step in an apparent disconnect between the U.S. and Russian cooperation on the issue of nuclear weapons.  Just a few weeks prior to the missile tests, headlines were full of Russia’s decision to pull out of the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, also known as Nunn-Lugar, which united Russia and the United States in efforts to secure nuclear material produced in the Soviet bloc during the Cold War.

Nunn-Lugar marked one of the first major cooperative efforts between the U.S. and Russia on nuclear arms security.  But it doesn’t fall in line with the changing face of Russia.  At the start of Nunn-Lugar, Russia was at perhaps one of its weakest states since WWII, facing a wide range of economic woes, political turmoil, and unprecedented security threats.  Today, Russia’s economy is facing a relatively positive outlook, and the country has transitioned from a communist society to that of a nominal democracy.  Russia has regained its role as a leading player in the realm of international security and the global economy.

From this point of view, weapons’ testing in Russia doesn’t necessarily warrant alarm.  Russia approaches nuclear weapons with careful consideration, as evidenced by the successes of Nunn-Lugar, New START, and other joint agreements to limit the threat of nuclear weapons worldwide.  What Russia desires is a partnership of two equals, with mutually beneficial exchanges, one that the 1990s vintage Nunn-Lugar program may not provide anymore.  That doesn’t, of course, negate the need for a cooperative effort to secure nuclear materials.  An updated Nunn-Lugar, which affords Russia increased respect, combined with a more flexible American approach may be just what the doctor ordered.

Check out our own Joe Cirincione in an interview with HuffPost Live for more on the dangers of a distanced U.S. – Russian relationship, and how we might get a more cooperative approach with Russia on issues not only related to nuclear weapons, but also other current and future geo-political issues, like U.S.-China relations.

http://www.ploughshares.org/blog/2012-10-29/us-and-russia-nuclear-security

October 30, 2012 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized