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Abstract
Post-Cold War “lab-to-lab” collaborations on unclassified scientific issues between U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons laboratories set the stage for bilateral cooperation in materials control and other nuclear areas. They also became the major element in a cooperative process initiated by a Presidential Decision Directive to ensure Russia's compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. These collaborations have always been highly favored by leaders of the Russian nuclear weapons complex—the same leaders who oversee Russia's participation in various government-to-government programs. This article reviews these collaborations and examines the possibility that U.S. rebuffs of Russian proposals and the U.S. failure to keep promises of expanded collaboration could contribute to Russia's reluctance in major programs and even lead to a return to nuclear testing by Russia. The author argues that a renewed U.S. commitment to the process should be an immediate goal of the Obama administration and is an essential step in re-engaging Russia to solve the nuclear problems remaining from the Cold War. Steps for doing so are recommended.
Notes
1. Barack Obama, “Renewing American Leadership,” Foreign Affairs 86 (July/August 2007), pp. 1–9.
2. “Remarks by President Barack Obama,” Prague, Czech Republic, April 5, 2009.
3. The fiftieth anniversary of the Agreement on the Exchange of Scientists between the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was celebrated in 2009; the nuclear weapons laboratories are not part of the academies and are operated by the U.S. Department of Energy in the United States and by the Ministry of Atomic Energy and its successors in Russia. On reducing the nuclear threat, see LANL, “Russian-American Collaborations to Reduce the Nuclear Danger,” Los Alamos Science 24 (Summer 1996), </la-science.lanl.gov/lascience24.shtml>.
4. Siegfried Hecker, “Thoughts About an Integrated Strategy for Nuclear Cooperation with Russia,” Nonproliferation Review 8 (Summer 2001), p. 5.
5. Andrei D. Sakharov (translated by Richard Lourie), Memoirs (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990).
6. V.N. Mokhov, V.K. Chernyshev, et al., “Possible Solution of the Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion Problem Based on Magnetogasdynamic Energy Storage,” Soviet Physics Doklady 24 (1979), p. 557.
7. Siegfried Hecker, quoted in “Part II: The Lab-to-lab Program in Scientific Conversion and Nuclear Materials Control,” in “‘Side-by-Side as Equals’—An Unprecedented Collaboration between the Russian and American Nuclear Weapons Laboratories to Reduce the Nuclear Danger,” in “Russian-American Collaborations to Reduce the Nuclear Danger,” Los Alamos Science 24 (Summer 1996), p. 19.
8. Vladimir Belugin, VNIIEF director, conversation with LANL delegation and author, June 1992.
9. Stephen M. Younger, LANL letter NWT/ICFA:93-96 to DOE officials, February 5, 1993. The letters, e-mail messages, and meeting records cited in this article are from the author's personal files.
10. Irvin R. Lindemuth et al., “U.S./Russian Collaboration in High-Energy-Density Physics Using High-Explosive Pulsed Power: Ultrahigh Current Experiments, Ultrahigh Magnetic Field Applications, and Progress Toward Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion,” IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 25 (1997), pp. 1357–72.
11. Irvin R. Lindemuth et al., “The VNIIEF/LANL Collaboration: Ten Years of Scientific Benefit to the Russian Federation and the United States,” in V.D. Selemir and L.N. Plyashkevich, eds., Megagauss-9: Proceedings of Ninth International Conference on Megagauss Magnetic Field Generation and Related Topics (Sarov, Russia: VNIIEF, 2004), pp. 18–28.
12. See “‘Side-by-Side as Equals’—An Unprecedented Collaboration between the Russian and American Nuclear Weapons Laboratories to Reduce the Nuclear Danger,” in “Russian-American Collaborations to Reduce the Nuclear Danger, “Los Alamos Science.
13. John Barry, “Bombs Away: An Exclusive Look at How One of Russia's Secret Nuclear Labs is Adapting to the Post-Cold-War Era,” Newsweek International, February 5, 1996, pp. 8–13; see also, John Barry, “Russia's Nuclear Secrets,” Newsweek, February 12, 1996, pp. 36–38.
14. Stockpile: The New Nuclear Menace, documentary film produced by Worldview Pictures for the Discovery Channel, October 2001.
15. Vladimir Chernyshev, VNIIEF deputy scientific leader, discussions with LANL delegation and author, February 1995.
16. Barry, “Russia's Nuclear Secrets.”
17. Vladimir Belugin, quoted in Stephen M. Younger, Endangered Species (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), p. 58.
18. Russian Federal Nuclear Center: 1946–1996 (Sarov, Russia: VNIIEF, 1996).
19. Siegfried Hecker, “Russian-American Collaborations to Reduce the Nuclear Danger,” pp. 31–37.
20. For more on this, see, “Los Alamos and Arzamas 16: The ‘Sister Cities’ Relationship,” in “Russian-American Collaborations to Reduce the Nuclear Danger.”
21. Gennadi Karataev, “Looking into the Future with Hope,” interview reported in Absolutely Open: Illustrated Journal about Towns which Could Not Be Found on the Map (Sarov, Russia: VNIIEF, 1996).
22. See Los Alamos-Sarov Sister Cities Initiative (LASSCI), <www.losalamossarov.org/lassci/>.
23. For reasons why the Russian approach is low cost, see I.R. Lindemuth and R.E. Siemon, “The Fundamental Parameter Space of Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion,” American Journal of Physics 77 (May 2009), p. 407.
24. Evgenni Velikov, vice president of Russian Academy of Sciences, letter to Victor Reis, DOE U.S. assistant secretary for defense programs, May 30, 1995.
25. Yuli Khariton, VNIIEF scientific leader, and Radii I. Ilkaev, VNIIEF first deputy scientific leader, letter to Victor Reis, July 7, 1995.
26. Victor Mikhailov, Russian minister of atomic energy, letter to Hazel O'Leary, U.S. secretary of energy, August 4, 1995.
27. Stephen M. Younger, LANL letter CISA:95-226 to Janie Shaheen, DOE, July 28, 1995.
28. Stephen M. Younger, LANL letter CISA:95-240 to Maurice Katz, DOE, August 7, 1995.
29. Stephen M. Younger, LANL letter CISA:95-278 to Robert Berls, DOE, September 21, 1995.
30. Victor Reis, letter to Victor Mikhailov, September 21, 1995.
31. Victor Mikhailov, interview with Newsweek's John Barry, reported in Absolutely Open: Illustrated Journal about Towns which Could Not Be Found on the Map (Sarov, Russia; VNIIEF, 1996).
32. The PDD is not available to the general public, and in this paper, I refer only to the broad intent of the PDD, which provided a basis for U.S. participation in scientific and technical collaboration with the Russian nuclear laboratories.
33. John Browne, LANL director, conversation with author, July 10, 1998.
34. Stephen Younger, LANL associate laboratory director for nuclear weapons, e-mail message to Vladimir Rogachev, August 7, 1998.
35. “Director John Browne lifted Monday's embargo against all employee travel to Russia on Wednesday afternoon,” according to the Los Alamos Monitor, September 3, 1998.
36. Stephen Younger, e-mail message to author, October 7, 1999.
37. Sec. 3138, Fiscal 1997 Defense Authorization Act, P.L. 104-201.
38. Federal Register 62 (June 30, 1997), No. 125, pp. 35333–35.
39. The protocols cited in this article are from the author's personal records.
40. David Crandall, DOE director for defense science, e-mail message to Victor Selemir and Vladimir Rogachev, October 14, 1999.
41. Radii I. Ilkaev, VNIIEF director, address to Workshop on Pulsed Power, Sarov, Russia, October 18, 1999. All quotations in this paragraph are from this address.
42. Vladislav N. Mokhov, VNIIEF deputy scientific leader, conversation with LANL delegation (including the author), October 15, 1999.
43. Ernest Moniz, undersecretary of energy, address to plenary meeting of U.S. and Russian government and laboratory representatives, “On the Implementation of Scientific and Technical Projects to Help Ensure the Safety and Security of Their Nuclear Stockpiles against the Backdrop of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT),” Moscow, April 3–5, 2000.
44. Alexander Kotenkov, President-elect Vladimir Putin's representative to the Duma, as cited in “Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT): Russian Ratification of the CTBT,” Acronym Institute, <www.acronym.org.uk/ctbt/ctbduma.htm>.
45. Yevgeniy Adamov, Russia minister of atomic energy, as cited in “Minister of Atomic Energy Adamov Discusses CTBT Withdrawal,” Nuclear Threat Initiative/Center for Nonproliferation Studies, March 20, 2001, <www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/treaties/ctbt2.htm>.
46. Vasilli Neznamov, VNIIEF first deputy director, meeting with LANL delegation (including the author), June 4, 2001.
47. E-mail message from author to DOE and LANL officials, July 17, 2001; Moniz had resigned after the election of George W. Bush.
48. Matthew Bunn, “Stabilizing Employment for Nuclear Personnel: The Nuclear Cities Initiative,” Nuclear Threat Initiative/Managing the Atom Project, November 27, 2002, <www.nti.org/e_research/cnwm/stabilizing/nci.asp>.
49. Ivan Sofronov, VNIIEF head of the Mathematics Department, meeting with LANL delegation (including the author), June 4, 2001.
50. Vasilli Neznamov, meeting with LANL delegation (including the author), January 22, 2002.
51. Five highly successful “5-lab” (LANL, LLNL, SNL, VNIIEF, VNIITF) computational workshops had been held (in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997) before being mysteriously (to the Russians) stopped when the DOE head of the Advanced Scientific Computing Initiative directed that none of the funds originating in his office could subsequently be used to support such workshops, even though “computations” was one of the three broad areas of the Moscow Protocol and subsequent meetings.
52. Record of Meeting between DOE and Minatom officials, Santa Fe, NM, April 14–16, 2002.
53. An SNL perspective on the Gordon–Ryabev meeting is given in “Reinvigorating Collaboration Under the Protocol for Scientific and Technical Projects to Help Ensure the Safety and Security of the United States and Russian Federation Nuclear Stockpiles,” SNL, October 17, 2002, <www.sandia.gov/NNSA/russia/pdfs/Collaboration.pdf>.
54. General John Gordon, NNSA administrator, letter to L.D. Ryabev, May 14, 2002.
55. Aleksandr Rumyantsev, Russia minister of atomic energy, as cited in “Novaya Zemlya Test Site to be Maintained,” June 28, 2002, Nuclear Threat Initiative/Center for Nonproliferation Studies, <www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/treaties/ctbt2.htm > ; Andrey Nikolayev, State Duma Committee on Defense chairman, as cited in “Nikolayev Believes Resumption of US Tests Possible,” October 1, 2002, Nuclear Threat Initiative/Center for Nonproliferation Studies, <www.nti.org/db/nisprofs/russia/treaties/ctbt2.htm>.
56. Linton F. Brooks, NNSA administrator, letter to directors of LANL, LLNL, SNL, June 8, 2005.
57. I.V. Borovkov, Minatom letter 1718/B, June 30, 2003.
58. David Malakoff, “New Nukes Revive Old Debate,” Science 301 (July 4, 2003), pp. 32–34.
59. John Browne, “Strengthening and Enhancing Relationships through Technical Cooperation,” Los Alamos News Letter 3 (June 24, 2002), p. 2.
60. Boris Vodolaga, VNIITF deputy director for international relations, meeting with LANL delegation (including the author), January 19–23, 2003.
61. Alexander Andriash, VNIITF deputy director, meeting with author, January 22, 2003.
62. Toni Feder, “Atlas Shrugged off at Nevada Test Site,” Physics Today 59 (June 2006), pp. 25–26.
63. The small number of U.S. scientists still involved continue to play a technical role, but their other obligations and minimal identified funding severely limit their ability to do so.
64. Siegfried Hecker, “Thoughts About an Integrated Strategy for Nuclear Cooperation with Russia,” pp. 4–19.
65. Hecker, “Thoughts About an Integrated Strategy for Nuclear Cooperation with Russia.” The downward spiral in cooperation that Hecker noted continued through the two Bush administrations; see Kenneth Luongo and William Hoehn, “An Ounce of Prevention,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2005, pp. 28–25. [0]
66. Associated Press, “Reports: Defense Minister Says Russia Remains Ready to Conduct Nuclear Tests, Not Doing So,” July 17, 2006.
67. Caitlin Talmadge, “Striking a Balance: The Lessons of U.S.–Russian Materials Security Cooperation,” Nonproliferation Review 12 (March 2005), pp. 1–35.
68. Glenn Schweitzer, “Engaging Russian Scientists,” Science 321 (July 18, 2008), p. 317.
69. “National Policy on the Transfer of Scientific, Technical, and Engineering Information (Unclassified),” U.S. National Security Decision Directive 189, September 21, 1985.
70. Hecker, “Thoughts About an Integrated Strategy for Nuclear Cooperation with Russia,” p. 7.
71. Richard G. Lugar, “Revving Up the Cooperative Nonproliferation Engine,” Nonproliferation Review (July 2008), pp. 349–52.