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Russian Commercial Nuclear Initiatives And U.S. Nuclear Nonproliferation Interests, Michael T. Maloney, Oana Diaconu

Michael T. Maloney

Recent proposals put forward by the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) aim to "privatize" Minatom's nondefense activities in hopes of making them commercially profitable. Through such reforms, Minatom is ostensibly seeking to generate funds that can be used to finance environmental remediation and nonproliferation activities, as well as support the vast social responsibilities (schools, hospitals, and the like) that it inherited from the Soviet era. Oana C. Diaconu and Michael T. Maloney, both of the Department of Economics at Clemson University, examine the obstacles Minatom faces as it attempts to commercialize its civilian activities. The authors argue that Minatom's …