OREANDA-NEWS. On June 10 2009 Director General of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko and Vice Premier for EU Integration, Minister of Science and Technological Development of Serbia Bozidar Jelic signed an inter-governmental agreement for retrieval of irradiated nuclear fuel from Vinca research reactor to Russia.

The agreement provides legislative basis for the retrieval of spent nuclear fuel from Vinca to Russia for its temporary storage and processing.

The agreement reaffirms the commitment of both parties to strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime and is Russia’s confirmation of the agreements reached by the presidents of Russia and the United States in Bratislava in 2005: in the Slovakian capital Presidents Putin and Bush agreed to combat nuclear terrorism, to ensure return of fresh and spent highly enriched uranium fuel from reactors of Russian and American design, to reduce potential threats of proliferation of highly enriched nuclear materials.

The return of fuel under this agreement will be carried out under the IAEA’s control in the framework of the Russian-US agreement for retrieval of nuclear fuel of Russian manufacture from research reactors and is aimed at reducing the amount of high enriched uranium in third countries.

The agreement will be valid for 10 years with possibility of prolongation.