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Ukraine to dispose of enriched uranium
By Wu Chong and Ai Yang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-14 07:44
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WASHINGTON - Ukraine's decision to get rid of its enriched uranium by 2012 - a move announced by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych at the Washington Nuclear Security Summit on Monday - has been deemed as a boost for the meeting.
It will help realize the ambition of US President Barack Obama's administration to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide within four years, analysts said.
Ukraine inherited about 5,000 nuclear weapons when it became independent from the former Soviet Union in 1991, giving it the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. In 1994 it agreed to get rid of all its atomic weapons and join the non-proliferation treaty, the Financial Times reported.
It is believed the amount of enriched uranium remaining in the country is enough to make several nuclear bombs.
"By the end of this year, the Ukraine is going to have the larger part of this uranium taken out of the country," Yanukovych, who was sworn in as president in February, told CNN on Monday.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was quoted by the Financial Times as saying the Obama administration would prefer to have the material in the US "rather than potentially floating around somewhere else".
But there is no written agreement regulating a clear destination of other countries' atomic fuel. "The International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations did not name a guardian, but the US is matter-of-factly considered a potential receiver because of its international status and power," Zhai said.
The US will provide technical and financial assistance and the Ukraine will convert its nuclear power plants to operate on low-enriched fuel. Almost half of the country's power comes from nuclear energy, the Financial Times said.
But other observers believe the US has put nuclear security high on the world agenda largely out of its own political concerns.
Hu meets Yanukovych
President Hu Jintao and Yanukovych met on Monday on the sidelines of the Washington summit. This was the first meeting between Hu and Yanukovych after the Ukrainian president took office.
The Chinese leader urged the two sides to carry out more high-level exchanges, promote technological cooperation and people-to-people and cultural exchanges.
Yanukovych said the Ukraine stands ready to work with China to promote high-level contact and further economic cooperation.
Xinhua contributed to the story.
China Daily
