Weapons specialists from governments and think-tanks around the world gathered at the June 7th "Reviewing Global Partnership: Its Achievements for International Security and Cooperation" to evaluate progress in eliminating weapons of mass destruction and protecting stored nuclear waste in Russia.

Aid for these efforts was pledged by the G-8 in 2002 when it met in Kananaskis, Canada and promised at least $20 billion over 10 years toward dismantlement projects in Russia via the so-called Global Partnership Proramme.

Former US Senator Sam Nunn said the pledges of $17 billion so far fall short of the Kananaskis goal and he stressed that only a fraction of that amount had actually been spent and that the international community was not doing enough to meet its commitments. He urged delegates to consider the risks of inaction.

Today it is possible that a small group of terrorists could acquire nuclear weapons in one nation, launch a nuclear attack in another nation and stagger the security and the economy of every nation,'' said Nunn, according to the Associated Press.

Nunn is a Georgia democrat who in 1991 joined Indiana republican Richard Lugar to co-author the Nunn-Lugar, or CTR, agreement to dispose of Russia’s nuclear arsenal. Nunn is also co-chairman with media mogul Ted Turner of the Washington based Nuclear Threat Initiative, a non-proliferation NGO that co-sponsored the conference.

Other sponsors included the Centre For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Japanese government.

Nunn singled out Japan as one of the most tight-pursed donors, pledging only $200 million compared to Washington's $10 billion contribution. As yet, however, Japan is the only nation that has taken any roll at all in dismantling submarines of the Russian Pacific Fleet—which Nunn failed to mention, AP reported.

Nunn went on to stress in his keynote speech to the conference of over 100 government and NGO nuclear experts from around the world that the stated goal of $20 billion should be the lower limit rather than ceiling for donations in realising concrete projects.

This view has been echoed several times by Nunn’s former Senate colleague Lugar, who now chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Nunn stressed that the G-8 efforts were a “race between cooperation and disaster.”

Alan Heyes, from the UK Department of Trade and Industry, stated that the UK was mainly focused on the issue of spent nuclear fuel.

He told the conference that and that the G-8 Global Partnership must not end up as a “scrap metal project, where you make the situation worse, because you focus too much on dismantlement of the submarines.”

Bellona’s views at the conference
The Bellona Foundation, which sat on the panel at the Tokyo conference, stressed the need for coordination among donor nations and a strategic nuclear dismantlement Master Plan for Russia.

Bellona also called on delegates to bring the population of Russia, which is most impacted by decisions made by donor counties, to encourage public participation there.

"Public participation in Russia is essential for the success of the implementation of concrete projects in Russia," said Bellona.

Despite Nunn’s criticism of Japan’s donation pledge, Japan has a well-developed culture of public consultation, noted the Bellona.

Japan’s ambassador to Russia, Issei Nomura.

Nils Båhmer/Bellona

Russia and Japan also have slightly prickly relations that have been characterized by mutual accusations of espionage and have suffered from territorial disputes. Such tensions have led to lack of access for experts and hindered the process significantly.

Japan’s ambassador to Russia, Issei Nomura, told the conference that Japan is only now willing sign off on dismantling another five Russian submarines after it successfully dismantled a Russian Victor III class submarine, which was completed last December.

But before inking the deal on the five new subs, Japan and Russia will have to frame a liability agreement, as Japan is not a signatory of the 2003 Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Programme in the Russian Federation (MNEPR) agreement, Nomura said. He also called for more international funding to more rapidly dismantle Russian nuclear Pacific Fleet submarines. Of the $200m Japan has committed to the G-8 pledge, $100m is earmarked for sub dismantling.

Russian submarine dismantlement in the Russian Far East presents special challenges that dismantlement efforts in Russia’s Northwest do not. The Northwest is, by now, well covered territory thanks to efforts by the CTR programme, Norway, and other nations who have built a well developed infrastructure.

The Northern Fleet subs are also concentrated in a relatively small geographical area, whereas the Pacific Fleet’s ailing submarines stretch along thousands of kilometres of rough Pacific coastline. Developing an infrastructure in which these subs could be safely towed to dismantlement points near Vladivostok, or dismantled on site with yet to be designed equipment is likely to reach far an above what Japan is willing to offer financially.

Rosatom’s Viktor Akhunov.

Nils Båhmer/Bellona

“Our goal here is to draw the attention of all the signatory nations of Global Partnership to the fact that the problem of decommissioned submarines is no less acute in Russia’s Far East than in western regions, while financing for the Far East is far scantier,” Antipov said, according to ITAR-Tass Russian newswire.

He said an approximately equal number of submarines await dismantlement in the Far East and in the west of Russia—40 per region.

Moscow had amassed a Cold War-era fleet of 250 nuclear-powered submarines, but since the 1980s, nearly 200 of them have been removed from active duty. Moscow has promised to dismantle its ageing fleet at ports in its Northwest and Far East and safely dispose of their nuclear reactors by 2010.

They will cost $4 billion to dismantle, said Antipov, but G-8 pledges have so far amounted to only half of that.

Antipov’s colleague, Victor Akhunov, also of Rosatom, maintained that the goal of Russia dismantling all the obsolete nuclear submarines by 2010 could be met. Russia itself can pay for six submarine dismantlements annually, and said international funding was required to dismantle another four to five per year to meet this goal.

Antipov agreed. Over the next 10 to 12 years, we can't achieve our goals without international help, he said, according to AP.

Bøhmer reported and wrote from Tokyo. Digges contributed from Oslo