The Agreement was signed in Moscow on August 29, 2000 and in Washington on September 1, 2000.
The Agreement provides for irradiation of disposition plutonium as fuel in existing nuclear reactors and reactors that may be built in the future, as well as other mutually agreed methods.
The Agreement provides for parity in the total amount of disposition weapon-grade plutonium (34 metric tons on each side) and in the amount of disposition plutonium in the form of clean metal (25 metric tons on each side), obtained directly from nuclear warheads.
Despite the fact that the Agreement does not contain the commitment by the United States regarding the provision of comprehensive and long-term funding for the agreed stages of the effort, the document stipulates that the United States will commit $200 million for the construction of necessary facilities and provides for the possibility of increasing this amount in the future. It is determined that the assistance to be provided is to cover the entire range of work associated with the design, construction, licensing and operation of facilities.
Financial estimates conducted by Russian organisations with the participation of international experts have shown that the full implementation of the weapon-grade plutonium disposition programme will require over $2 billion. These estimates do not include the compensations for the losses incurred by the uranium industry, programme management, ensuring the safe operation of the Russian reactors and other expenses.
In this regard, the Agreement provides for the establishment of an international mechanism for financing of weapon-grade plutonium disposition. This includes provisions that allow the Russian side not to start the construction and modification of facilities for plutonium disposition if an international fund to finance the implementation of the project to utilise Russian weapon-grade plutonium at a rate of 2 metric tons per year is not created.
However, the agreement allows the Russian side to initiate design work immediately after the American side releases $70 million.
The Agreement provides for bilateral measures to implement the monitoring and inspection of plutonium disposition both in Russia and the United States on a reciprocal and symmetrical basis, which will not lead to additional conditions related to the regulation of the nuclear energy use in Russia. Appropriate procedures for monitoring and inspections will be developed with the participation of interested bodies. These procedures will be implemented after the decision on the full and predictable funding for the plutonium disposition project in Russia. Bilateral monitoring and inspections are expected to be subsequently replaced as far as possible by equivalent verification measures by the IAEA.
Prior to the development and introduction of bilateral procedures for monitoring and inspections, the Russian side will limit its actions to making declarative statements that the disposition plutonium and disposition equipment within the scope of the Agreement shall not be used for purposes contrary to its provisions.
The Agreement does not provide for the exchange of information constituting state secrets of the parties.
The Agreement package includes a joint statement in which the parties confirm their intention not to extract any new weapon-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices and not to accumulate its reserves.
The Agreement’s implementation will attract significant international funding, which will make it possible to preserve existing jobs and create new ones at Russian enterprises, to create the necessary infrastructure in Russia and ensure that Russian companies have sufficient orders for a long period of time, as well as provide an opportunity to apply international experience and modern technology, speed up the creation of a closed nuclear fuel cycle in Russia and ensure the transition to large-scale nuclear power at fast reactors.
The Agreement’s implementation will clearly demonstrate Russia's commitment to moving forward the process of nuclear disarmament and the expansion of US-Russian cooperation in science and technology.
The Agreement shall be applied provisionally from the date of its signing.