Liz Sherwood-Randall, the White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control, downplayed the impact of the Administration’s recent decision to put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility into cold standby, emphasizing yesterday that the Administration had “extensive” discussions with Russia about a potential shift in its plutonium disposition plans. As part of 2000 agreement, the U.S. and Russia agreed to each dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium, though they agreed later in the 2000s to do so in different ways. South Carolina lawmakers have pressed the Administration on how it now plans to fulfill the agreement. “There are not surprises here and we have made it clear that our commitment is rock solid to achieve the disposition,” Sherwood-Randall said during a Council on Foreign Relations event yesterday. “What we were concerned about was the cost and the time that would be required. As we considered this need to examine technology we have had conversations with the Russians.”
Sherwood-Randall said she didn’t believe there was anything in the agreement that would prohibit the U.S. from taking another approach to disposing of its 34 metric tons of plutonium. “This was the path that we chose to pursue and if we are able to demonstrate effective disposition then we’re not bound to this particular course,” she said.
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