German assistance for the dismantling of nuclear submarines in Russia

Abstract

Abstract On October 9, 2003, the German Ministry of Economics and Labor signed an agreement with the Russian Federation's former Ministry of Atomic Energy for support in eliminating the nuclear weapons that the Russian Federation has pledged to reduce through the dismantlement of decommissioned nuclear submarines. This treaty, which is binding under international law, implements the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction as agreed to at the G8 Summit in Kananaskis in 2002. The core element of the German-Russian project is the creation of a long-term interim storage facility for 120 nuclear submarine reactor compartments near Murmansk in northwestern Russia and the preparation of the reactor compartments for interim storage. This technically demanding project, which began not without some problems, has developed in a positive manner since the end of 2003. The provisions in the treaty and its supplementary documents, which were internationally publicized, have generally proven to be successful.