[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 111 (Thursday, September 5, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8293-S8294]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SUCCESS AT VINCA

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise to remind my colleagues that an 
important milestone in our progress toward reducing the risks of 
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction took place about 2 weeks 
ago.
  Events like September 11 would have been far worse if terrorists had 
access to weapons of mass destruction. Since September 11, appreciation 
of this threat has increased dramatically. Many of us have spoken on 
the need to rein in the forces of international terrorism and any 
possibility that they may gain the use of such weapons.
  The milestone to which I refer is the successful removal of enough 
weapons-grade uranium from the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences near 
Belgrade, Yugoslavia to make more than two nuclear bombs. This removal 
was accomplished through coordination among government and private 
groups, including contributions from Yugoslavia and Russia, the 
International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
  I especially salute the contributions made by the Nuclear Threat 
Initiative, headed by Ted Turner and our former colleague Senator Sam 
Nunn. This episode represents another critical effort from the NTI. I'm 
very honored to serve on the Board of the NTI, along with Senator 
Lugar. There will always be aspects of international efforts that are 
difficult to handle through government channels, where the private 
resources of the NTL may be vital.
  But even as we congratulate ourselves over this victory, we need to 
recognize that it is very small in the overall scale of the problem. 
Estimates are that weapons-grade uranium exists at over 350 sites in 
over 50 countries. Some of these have very small quantities, but many 
of these locations have enough material for one or more bombs. Some of 
these sites include research reactors, provided by either the United 
States or the Soviet Union, fueled by highly enriched uranium which 
could be diverted for weapons use.
  And we also need to examine why it required such complex coordination 
to accomplish this work and explore how Congress can simplify the 
process in the future. This part of the puzzle has a much simpler 
solution, because the tools to accomplish this are now part of the 
Senate-House conference on the Armed Services authorizing legislation.
  Let me briefly explain why the Vinca operation required so much 
coordination. The Yugoslavian government very logically required that 
any Vinca solution address both fresh fuel and spent fuel from their 
research reactor. The fresh fuel was highly enriched uranium, and our 
government was able to assist because it represented a proliferation 
threat for weapons of mass destruction. That cooperation is authorized 
through the 1991 Nunn-Lugar and the 1996 Nunn-Lugar-Domenici 
Legislation.
  But the spent fuel at Vinca, which is not useful for making a nuclear 
weapon, could pose both an environmental concern as well as a dirty 
bomb threat, depending on its level of radioactivity. The former 
represents work that is clearly beyond the authorization of our 
Government's nonproliferation mission and the latter represents work 
that is not authorized.
  Now since September 11, there have been volumes of testimony on the 
threat posed by highly radioactive materials and their potential use as 
dirty

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bombs. But today, despite these concerns, there are no statutes which 
address the government's authority to offer help to other countries 
regarding dirty bomb threats.
  I am pleased to note that the Domenici-Biden amendment to the Senate 
Armed Services legislation provides authorizations to enlarge the 
ability of the government to step into such situations. With final 
passage of that amendment in the Armed Services legislation, we can 
provide important new tools to our government.
  Under that amendment, programs to address dirty bomb issues are 
specifically authorized, including assistance to any country requesting 
our aid. And of equal importance, programs to broaden our ability to 
address fissile material issues around the world, not just associated 
with the former Soviet Union, are authorized along with new approaches 
to speed up the conversion of highly enriched uranium to material 
unusable for weapons.
  Even with this amendment, I am sure there will be many opportunities 
for private groups, like the NTI, to step in and plug gaps in 
Government programs. But with this amendment, we will vastly simplify 
future operations at the hundreds of remaining sites.
  The Domenici-Biden amendment enjoyed broad support in the Senate, and 
I appreciate that Senators Lugar, Landrieu, Hagel, Carnahan, Murkowski, 
Bingaman, and Lincoln joined us in introducing it.
  It is my hope that the success at Vinca, along with the sobering 
realization that we need to repeat this success hundreds of times to 
fully address the threat of proliferation of materials suitable for 
nuclear bombs, will encourage the Conferees from both the House and the 
Senate to ensure that provisions of the Domenici-Biden amendment are in 
the Armed Services authorization bill that will eventually emerge from 
Conference.

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