The second point is that government of Japan will focus on the following two programs; (a) dispositions of the surplus plutonium through commercial fast breed reactor, BN600 at Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, and (b) financial support to the dismantlement of nuclear submarines in Far Eastern Russia. These two projects might overlap slightly in presupposition that the Mayak complex would continue the reprocessing of nuclear submarine's spent fuel.

Future role of the Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok among Russian strategic nuclear arsenals is unclear for the outside observers. Removal of the ocean-based strategic nuclear weapon's system from this region will not only make de facto limited ocean nuclear free zone feasible but also significantly stabilize multilateral relationship among related countries.

The third point is that, although significant achievements have been gained in this decade, participating countries have encountered problems in implementation phase repeatedly and several programs were indeed abandoned. This is quite conceivable considering the political sensitivity, technological challenges these projects require, and the accompanying bureaucratic complexities in each participating county. Dismantlement of the weapon system usually accompanies relatively large scale of economic activities. Improvements in management for the programs, and more coordinately organized planning and implementations among governments, commercial entities, specialists, and NGOs are required to achieve desirable results internationally.

2. Beginning and Development of Japan's CIS Nuclear Cooperation

Current Status of the "1993 Fund"

The first phase of Japan's nuclear cooperation with the CIS started by the initiative of Munich G-7 Summit in 1992. Japanese government pledged $100 million (11.7 billion yen) for assistance in April 1993. Japan concluded the Framework Agreements on Cooperation for the Elimination of Reduced Nuclear Weapons with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus by March 1994 and established the Technical Secretariat on Cooperation for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons under these treaties in Tokyo. Implementation of the projects concentrated in the period from 1996 to 1998. The following is a set of selected projects carried out during this period of time. "Table 1" summarized the items of budget for each CIS country.

Physical Protection and Material Accountancy Control

The FSU countries excluding Russia needed IAEA safeguard and inspection since they became signatory non-nuclear-weapon states of the NPT. Japan's organizations and ministries in charge of nuclear energy have contributed technically and financially for the introduction of this institution.

Medical and Environmental Support

Ukraine received a program of medical support for military personnel who operate in the process of dismantling weapons of mass destruction. A medical group from Japan assessed the environmental impact to the Kazakhstani residents at the former nuclear test field in Semipalatinsk. Equipments for medical examination and treatment have been granted and this program is scheduled to continue.

Plutonium Container at Mayak

Financial support for the plutonium pit container is an example of the cancelled projects. This project started from the construction of storage facilities at the Mayak Production Complex in Chelyabinsk. Specialists prepared several kinds of Plutonium containers for the storage of plutonium pits recovered from decommissioned nuclear warheads. The U.S. and Japan scheduled to jointly bear the expense for 50,000 sets of containers. Japanese government's intention was to order half of them from the U.S. companies by $35 million. At the implementation phase, however, Russian side requested that Japan should purchase Russian-made containers, which caused a delay of the project due to the coordination among participants. In 1998 Russian side announced that the demand of containers fell below previous estimates, caused by a delay of spent fuel reprocessing at Mayak. Japanese side withdrew the proposal of assistance as a result.

Assisting in the Disposition of Nuclear Submarines:
"1993 Fund" and Liquid Radioactive Waste Processing Plants

Russian Navy had operated more than 100 nuclear submarines in Far East. 60-70 vessels reached their working lifetimes but some of them are still left moored at piers. The Soviet Union constructed facilities in the 1970s for dispositions of decommissioned nuclear submarines at Zvezda Naval Shipyards in Bolshoi Kamen but operations have been halted because of the lack of funding.

The Soviet Navy's ocean dumping of radioactive wastes in Barents Sea, Arctic Ocean, and Sea of Okhotsk was made public through the Yablokov Report in 1993. The Greenpeace reported the dumping of nuclear submarine's secondary cooling water by Russian Pacific Fleet in 1994 through monitoring activities. Appeals were made from a wide range of domestic entities, especially from the coastal local governments along Sea of Japan, for which fishery is an important industry. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged financial contributions to the processing plant of the low level liquid radioactive waste through negotiations between Russia's Primorsky local government, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy, and Russian Navy, among others. A consortium formed by Babcock and Wilcox Nuclear Environment Service and Tohmen Corporation awarded the contract through international bidding. This facility consisted of the U.S. made processing plants and the Russian made barge to carry them. Constructions of this movable facility completed in 1997. It was towed to Zvezda shipyard in November 2000 and handed over to the Russian operator successfully.

3. Programs by "1999 Fund"

Japanese Government proceeded with the commitment at Koln Summit in 1999 which covered the following two issues; (a) civilian use of plutonium recovered from dismantled nuclear warheads by MOX (Mixed Oxide) fuel, and (b) additional assistance in dismantlement and disposition of decommissioned nuclear submarines in the Russian Far East. *2