On 25 May 2005, 2.5 kilograms of fresh HEU fuel were removed from the Salaspils reactor and returned to Russia. According to the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, the fuel will be downblended at Russia’s Luch Institute into low-enriched nuclear fuel for power plants.[7]

On 16 May 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration announced the transfer of 14.4kg of spent HEU fuel from Salaspils to a facility near Chelyabinsk, Russia. The HEU was transported by rail, in secret and under secure conditions with the cooperation of the Russian Federation, Latvia, and the IAEA. With the May 2008 removal of spent HEU fuel, all HEU has been removed from Latvia.[8] [Spent fuel is considered less a proliferation threat than fresh fuel because of its highly radioactive nature. Nonetheless, spent fuel that has been only lightly irradiated in a reactor might not pose a major risk to human health and consequently might present a significant risk for theft or diversion.]

The United States and other members of the international community have long been involved in working to improve the security of HEU fuel and other materials stored at Salaspils. In the 1990s, the IAEA and a number of countries, including Finland, Sweden, and the United States, provided technical assistance and funding to Latvia to improve material control and accounting regulations and physical protection systems at Salaspils. The latter included the installation of electronic personal identification number (PIN) access controls, a hand-geometry biometric identification system, video surveillance, improved radio communications, motion detectors, and a central alarm system.[9,10]

The utilities of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania released a joint feasibility study in October 2006 calling for the construction of at least one new nuclear reactor of between 800 and 1,600 MW in Lithuania to replace Ignalina-2, which is scheduled to be closed in 2009.[11] In March 2007, Poland agreed to participate in the project, which is estimated to cost $5 billion. As of August 2008, the four countries had not yet agreed upon ownership stakes in the proposed new plant, which is to be built by 2018.[12]

Key Sources:
[1] “United States and Latvian Governments Sign Agreement to Allow Nonproliferation and Threat Reduction Cooperation,” U.S. Department of Energy press release, April 25, 2005, U.S. Department of Energy website, http://www.energy.gov.
[2] Diena, March 10, 1994, p. 4; in “Future For Salaspils Nuclear Reactor Viewed,” FBIS Document SOV-94-201.
[3] Radio Riga Network; in “Latvian Government Shuts Down Nuclear Research Reactor,” FBIS Document SOV-98-170, June 19, 1998.
[4] General Accounting Office, “Research Reactors in the Former Soviet Union,” GAO/RCED-96-4 Nuclear Safety, p. 23.
[5] CNS communication with U.S. DOE official, May 11, 2005.
[6] International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Research Reactors in the World, December 1992, p. 43.
[7] “O vyvoze is Latvii v Rossiyu ‘svezhego’ vysokoobogashchennogo yadernogo topliva” [On the transfer from Latvia to Russia of ‘fresh’ highly enriched nuclear fuel], May 26, 2005, Russian Federal Atomic Energy website, http://www.minatom.ru/News/Main/view?id=18698&idChannel=64.
[8] "All Highly Enriched Uranium Removed from Latvia," NNSA press release, U.S. DOE website, 16 May 2008.
[9] Sandia National Laboratories, “Protection and Surveillance of Nuclear Materials in the Former Soviet Union,” Hearings before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, March 29, 1996.
[10] “Improving Nuclear Materials Security at the Latvian Academy of Sciences Nuclear Research Center,” brochure printed by the Office of Arms Control and Nonproliferation of the U.S. DOE.
[11] "Baltic utilities say new nuclear is best new capacity choice," Nucleonics Week, 26 October 2006
[12] "More Info about Shares of Each Country in New Ignalina N-Plant to be Released in Fall," Baltic News Service, 28 August 2008, in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, <http://www.lexis-nexis.com>.

	Updated September 2008