VZCZCXRO0364
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHPG #1073 2611041
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181041Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9626
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0748
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
UNCLAS PRAGUE 001073
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG EZ PREL RU
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC SIGNS NUCLEAR FUEL REPATRIATION
AGREEMENT WITH USG
1. Ambassador Graber and Czech Minister of Industry and Trade
Martin Riman signed the "Agreement Concerning Cooperation in
the Area of Countering the Proliferation of Nuclear Materials
and Technologies" (a.k.a. nuclear fuel repatriation
agreement) on September 17 at the Ministry of Industry and
Trade. This Agreement provides a legal framework and tax
exemptions for the U.S. National Nuclear Safety
Administration's activities in the Czech Republic, including
the transfer to Russia of research and test reactor highly
enriched uranium (HEU) supplied by the former Soviet Union
and the Russian Federation. The program also provides
technical assistance to convert still-operating reactors from
the use of HEU fuel to low enriched uranium fuel.
2. The Department of Energy has been in consultations with
the Czech Republic on this project since 2000, with
significant work beginning in 2004. The Czech Republic has
completed the return of fresh HEU, and is scheduled to begin
the more difficult process of returning spent HEU later this
year. The U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Safety
Administrations' Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return program
advances U.S. nuclear non-proliferation objectives by
reducing the threat from and preventing illicit trafficking
in weapons-usable nuclear material.
GRABER