It must be said that this same little spark of destiny also brought me to the State Department – and before hand beforehand it sent me to a meeting with a representative from the Nuclear Regulation Commission (NRC). I also got to mingle with employees from Congress’s Science and Technology Committee and people from non-governmental organizations, who, one way or the other, have an influence on American nuclear politics.

Although the previous meetings I had with the DOE were not all that bad, I expected more out of this meeting than the previous ones. First of all, people working with Russia on nuclear non-proliferation and the regulation of atomic energy use participated in these meetings. Secondly, participants at the meetings were usually open to informative discussions and were giving some concrete evaluations of various American endeavours – at least what they knew of them.

At the beginning the DOE looked like a fine place to hold a discussion, as the people who came to this meeting were more informed than the ones I had been speaking with at State and the NRC. I came to this conclusion because of their experiences in the field and the topic at hand.

But as everyone knows, fate can be an evil thing, and it did not cease to be the case with the DOE’s walls. Never before had I heard so much frivolous propaganda from an American, regardless of his position or work place; I had not seen such secretive people in any other US state institution. Sure, I had managed to meet with similar civil servants in Russia, like those in the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, (Rosatom), but they did not try to pretend to be open with any information as my interlocutors at the DOE did.

I must admit that my countrymen are far simpler people as a matter of routine. Their American counterparts are far more complicated: They don’t want to look secretive (they’re not all in the CIA after all) but all the same they are uncomfortable giving out information.

Spin it off how you want.  A reader might think “what do American civil servants owe to Russian citizens?” Nothing, of course. Then what point is there for them to go to places where there are similar conversations? Why don’t you get a sore throat five minutes before a meeting? Are there not enough janitors in the state? You could send one into one of these meetings: he would walk into a conference room, congratulate you for making it to the US, would warn that Bin Laden isn’t snoozing, and, excusing himself because he is not informed on the topic at hand and is in any case very busy, would bow out and tell you to wait for the next delegation. Depending on the person’s mood, you may even be invited to submit questions in writing, and promised answers to them in written form “ as soon as possible.”  They know this far better than me, but for some reason don’t resort to it.

There was no janitor in attendance, though. Instead, there were some important women. The first woman presented a slide show on how American atomic energy will reach unprecedented levels. Obviously their secretary put these slides together the morning beforehand and the presenter didn’t have time to read over them. The slides were put up on a big screen to make things more comfortable and easier to read. The presenter’s eyes were crystal clear and surprisingly dreary, and the information was provided by a leaflet from different atomic energy corporations. The presenter was not very tall and could have portrayed herself as fragile and feminine if she weren’t busy with so much serious work. I should add that beside myself, there were a few other Russian citizens in the hall at the time. One of them was from one of a Rosatom division that had a long name. I thought she liked the whole thing, while I personally took pity on myself, her and the people around us as I followed the boredom in the eyes of the Department bureaucrats’ boredom. One had to resist interrupting or being completely distracted. But I couldn’t help myself. Did I understand correctly that in 35 years you built reactors, and now you are planning to build 350 in 20 years? Her answer was short and magnificent – YES. Having waited a moment for an explanation, I again could not resist, asking, “and you think this is realistic?” She once again repeated the same word – YES. At this point the department’s employees joined in, nodding their heads in order and repeating the same word – YES. My remorse filled the whole room, and seemingly spread across the universe as well. I couldn’t get another word out of them, and why would I expect anything else…

During the day I managed to ask employees at the US Congress’s Science and Technology Committee what they think about the reality of the dreary woman’s statement. It turned out that I wasn’t the only who thought that the DOE cares not so much about how realistic their views are as much as protecting the atomic industry’s interests. Maybe that’s why Congress cut the DOE’s expenses when it was passing the last budget.

Another woman, a little livelier looking, followed and read a short noncommittal  speech written down on paper, and then offered to have a question and answer session. Nuclear non-proliferation and securing nuclear materials, including those in Russia, are her main areas of work. It is perfectly logical to think that Russians wanted to find out she dealt with these issues in Russia. She said that in one’s native land you don’t wait for information from official institutions three years after an inquiry has been made. There might be something for her to say. A surprisingly brief and clear answer was given about how before this was bad, but then became good since the DOE began to undertake a lot of programmes to assist its growth. Well, now I can sleep peacefully. Obviously there are details regarding these programmes that are so secret that we couldn’t hope to get anything thanks to the kind of access that we had back home. Someone happened to ask, for example, whether radioactive resources are secure in the United States or whether terrorists have tried to use radioactive resources since the September 11th attacks. Department employees were tired of nodding their heads and after a short pause said that they could not think of any similar instances. I understood right away that everything was going to be all right and there was no reason to worry, since there are times when it is better not to tell the truth. This is what the Department did, and they were right to do so.

Normal people should feel safe after such a reassuring conversation, but as for me I am not one of them, because I still have a feeling that there should have been a janitor there.

PS. The abovementioned meetings are part of the program “Civil Society and The Nuclear Industry,” which involves groups of Russians from governmental and non-governmental organizations that visit various institutions in the United States.  

Vladimir Slivyak is the co-chair of the Russian anti-nuclear group Ecodefence! He writes regular blog for Bellona Web.