MOU Between DOE and MINATOM
Concerning Cooperation Regarding
Plutonium Production Reactors

U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technical Cooperation

The following memorandum of understanding was released September 23, 1997, by the White House Office of the Vice President following the ninth meeting of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technical Cooperation, also known as the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission

Several stylistic adjustments have been made to the text (fonts, indentation, and internal linkages) to increase readibility on the Web.

Memorandum of Understanding
Between
the Department of Energy of the United States of America
and
the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy
Concerning Cooperation Regarding Plutonium Production Reactors

The Department of Energy of the United States of America and the Ministry of the-Russian Federation for Atomic Energy;

Reaffirming the desire to cooperate with each other in modifying plutonium production reactors by means of core conversion, which will make it possible to cease production of non-reactor grade plutonium and to significantly increase safety of these reactors, as set forth in the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation Regarding Plutonium Production Reactors, signed this 23rd day of September, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement on Plutonium Production Reactors);

Have agreed as follows:

1. All issues regarding liability resulting from activities under the Agreement on Plutonium Production Reactors but not under the framework of the Agreement between the Department of Defense of the United States of America and the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy Concerning the Modification of the Operating Seversk (Tomsk Region) and Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk Region) Plutonium Production Reactors shall be governed by the provisions of Article IV of the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning Operational Safety Regulation for Civil Nuclear Facilities in the Russian Federation, signed on December 16, 1993.
2. This Memorandum shall enter into force on the same date as the Agreement on Plutonium Production Reactors.

Done at Moscow, in duplicate, this twenty-third day of September, 1997, in the English and Russian languages, both texts being equally authentic.

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