RECENT RUSSIAN-HANFORD MPC&A RECIPROCAL EXCHANGES

As part of the 1993 U.S./Russian Government-to-Government Nuclear Material Protection, Control, and Accounting (MPC&A) initiative, the U.S. government has proposed a series of site visits to both countries to address nonproliferation concerns and to reduce the potential theft or diversion of direct-use r'+erials in Russia. In 1994, four exchange visits were made between the Hanford Site, which is located in Richland, Washington, and the Mayak and Tomsk Sites in Russia.The two Hanford visits were historical in the sense that no Russians had previously been inside a plutonium storage facility in the United States. High-level delegations from both the United States and Russia participated in technical discussions and facility visits.The reciprocal visit to the Mayak nuclear complex in Russia provided the U.S. delegation with numerous insights to these facilities and their respective safeguards programs. Follow-up visits are planned for that site to view physical protection and material control demonstrations. The reciprocal visit to the Tomsk Site in central Siberia provided the U.S. participants with many insights to the issues surrounding the cutoff of plutonium production and storage of plutonium.This paper describes the specific activities undertaken by exchange participants during the visits. In addition, several conclusions regarding the overall U.S./Russian exchange program are provided.