US and Russia ink nuclear cooperation pact, but Congress wary of Iran ties

摘要

The US and Russia signed an agreement last week that allows the former Cold-War rivals to share nuclear technology, and could even pave the way for the US to send spent nuclear fuel from US power plants to Russia for reprocessing. The agreement also provides a boost to the Bush administration's so-called "Global Nuclear Energy Partnership" initiative, which is designed to spur the use of nuclear energy around the world while keeping bomb-making materials out of the hands of rogue states and terrorists. William Burns, the US ambassador to Russia, signed the agreement in Moscow on Tuesday, joined by Sergey Kiriyenko, the director of Rosatom, Russia's state-owned nuclear corporation. It was subsequently approved by President Bush and Russian President Vladmir Putin, who took over as his country's prime minister last week. On the US side, the next step is for Bush to submit the agreement to Congress for review. Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, said Bush is expected to send the pact to Capitol Hill "in the near future." The pact does not require an affirmative vote of Congress; it can go into effect after 90 days of so-called "continuous" congressional session - about the amount of time left in Congress' calendar for this year. Congress also can pass a resolution of approval, with or without conditions, or a resolution of disapproval.