WEAPONS LAB DIRECTORS, NNSA OFFICIALS IN RUSSIA FOR MEETINGS, TOURS

The heads of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s three nuclear weapons laboratories, defense programs chief Don Cook and nonproliferation chief Anne Harrington are in Russia this week to meet with the directors of Russia’s weapons laboratories and tour Russian facilities in an effort to foster cooperation between the two countries. Details of the trip have been limited, but Cook and Harrington have been accompanied by Los Alamos Director Charlie McMillan, Livermore Director Parney Albright and Sandia Director Paul Hommert in a visit that mirrors a trip by Russian weapons and laboratory officials to the United States last June. Last year’s gathering included the first meeting between current U.S. laboratory directors and their Russian counterparts, and included Rosatom First Deputy General Director Ivan Kaminskikh as well as the directors of Russia’s Federal Research Center of Experimental Physics, Federal Research Center of Theoretical Physics, Federal Research Center of Automatics, Scientific Research Institute of Measuring Systems, and Afrikantov OKB Mechanical Engineering.