embassy events 2009

U.S. and Poland Signed Agreement on Countering the Proliferation of Nuclear Materials and Technologies

11 September 2009

Ambassador Victor Ashe with Igor Bolshinsky, Senior Technical Advisor, Office of Global Nuclear Material Threat Reduction, US Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration (more photos)

Ambassador Victor Ashe and Polish Undersecretary of State Hanna Trojanowska, Government’s Plenipotentiary for Nuclear Energy,  signed the “Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Area of Countering the Proliferation of Nuclear Materials and Technologies” on Friday, September 11 at the Ministry of Economy in Warsaw. 

This agreement provides a legal framework for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s activities in the Republic of Poland.  These activities include the return to the Russian Federation of nuclear fuel from the MARIA and EWA research reactors in Otwock-Swierk that was supplied by the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation.

This agreement is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), whose mission is to reduce and protect nuclear and radiological material located at civilian sites worldwide.  To date, NNSA has cooperated in 28 successful shipments of more than 900 kilograms of Russian-origin highly enriched uranium fresh and spent fuel from Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Libya, Uzbekistan, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, and the former East Germany.

Ambassador Ashe said, "The signature of this Agreement is an example of the international community working collectively to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism, and is the kind of concrete international security action that increases both U.S. security and that of our allies.  The United States Government looks forward to continued cooperation with the Government of Poland to implement our mutual commitment to promoting nuclear non-proliferation."

In a speech in Prague earlier this year, President Obama outlined his commitment to secure nuclear material around the world within four years and build on our efforts to detect and intercept nuclear materials in transit.  NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, and shipments like this, are a critical element of efforts to achieve those objectives.