U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell is on a global tour to promote nuclear security and non-proliferation with the first stop in Moscow, Russia. He will then travel to Kiev, Ukraine and Tbilisi, Georgia.
Speaking about the establishment of international uranium enrichment centers, Sell said that if Russia and the United States could sell this initiative to other countries, based on commercially attractive conditions, then it would be possible to have a situation that would ensure the safe and secure use of civilian nuclear energy.
The importance of such centers and cooperation with the United States in this sector was also mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month at his annual news conference.
"We are in a difficult situation where many countries want, and plan to, develop nuclear power. There is a subtle boundary between the development of nuclear energy and non-proliferation issues, as it is hard to control the level of military uranium enrichment," he said.
Russia and the U.S. "have therefore almost simultaneously put forward a similar initiative to create a network of international uranium enrichment centers, which will take responsibility for the disposal of nuclear waste," he added.
Putin proposed the idea of international uranium enrichment centers early last year, as a means of calming international tensions over Iran's controversial nuclear program.
Last October, Russia and Kazakhstan established their first joint venture to enrich uranium in Angarsk, near Irkutsk, eastern Siberia.
