Russia shut its last weapons- grade plutonium reactor on Thursday,
local news agencies reported, under a deal with the United States to cut the
risk of nuclear proliferation from Soviet era bomb-making plants.
The reactor, known as ADE-2, started up in 1964 while Nikita
Khrushchev was in power at a secret plant near the Siberian city of
Zheleznogorsk in the Krasnoyarsk region.
After the end of the Cold War, Russia had no need to produce
more weapons-grade plutonium as it had large stocks from thousands of
decommissioned nuclear weapons. The exact size of its plutonium reserves is a
state secret.
Russia and the United States, concerned at the danger of weapons-grade
materials being sold on the black market, agreed in March 2003 to shut down
Russia's remaining plutonium-producing reactors.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced on April 13,
while attending the Washington nuclear summit, that the ADE-2 reactor would be
shut.
"This important step forward continues to demonstrate
Russia's leadership on nuclear security issues, and will add momentum to our
shared global effort," President Barack Obama said on April 13.
Although plutonium production has ended at the Mining and
Chemical Combine, its dual-purpose reactor continues to generate heat and
electricity for local people, RIA news agency reported.
Under the terms of a deal signed by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, both countries must
dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium by burning it in nuclear reactors.