{"id":347745,"date":"2025-10-10T17:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T12:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=347745"},"modified":"2025-10-10T17:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T12:14:11","slug":"plutonium-management-and-disposition-agreement-pmda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/plutonium-management-and-disposition-agreement-pmda\/","title":{"rendered":"Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News<\/strong>: In October 2025, Russia\u2019s State Duma voted to withdraw from the PMDA, ending the long-suspended U.S.\u2013Russia pact on disposing weapons-grade plutonium.<\/p>\n<h2>About Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA)<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_347746\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-347746\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-347746\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Source-NDTV.jpg?resize=300%2C185&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Source-NDTV.jpg?resize=300%2C185&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Source-NDTV.jpg?resize=1024%2C631&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Source-NDTV.jpg?resize=768%2C473&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Source-NDTV.jpg?w=1429&amp;ssl=1 1429w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-347746\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; NDTV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>bilateral arms control accord<\/strong> between the <strong>United States and Russia<\/strong>, , to <strong>eliminate significant amounts of surplus weapons-grade plutonium<\/strong> from their military stockpiles.<\/li>\n<li>It was <strong>signed in 2000 and <\/strong><strong>came into force in 2011<\/strong> after a <strong>2010 protocol<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objective:<\/strong> To <strong>eliminate excess weapons-grade plutonium<\/strong> and <strong>reduce proliferation risk<\/strong> by <strong>converting it into proliferation-resistant forms<\/strong> so it <strong>cannot return to nuclear weapons use<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Commitment:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Both countries committed to <strong>dispose of 34 metric tons each<\/strong> of weapons-grade plutonium.<\/li>\n<li>Both countries agreed to <strong>turn weapons-grade plutonium into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel<\/strong> and then <strong>burn (irradiate) it in power reactors<\/strong> so it <strong>could not be easily used again for weapons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Verification:<\/strong> <strong>Bilateral monitoring and inspection<\/strong>, with <strong>International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verification <\/strong>once appropriate agreements are concluded; the <strong>2010 protocol<\/strong> called for <strong>early consultations with the IAEA<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Concern with PMDA<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>US began constructing its MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility<\/strong> as part of its obligations, but later (<strong>2016<\/strong>) <strong>shifted to a dilution-and-disposal approach due to cost<\/strong>, which was <strong>criticized by Russia for potential reversibility<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>2016<\/strong>, <strong>Russia suspended its participation<\/strong>, citing <strong>US non-compliance and policy disagreements<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In October 2025<\/strong>, <strong>Russia officially withdrew from the agreement<\/strong>, <strong>further deteriorating bilateral nuclear arms control<\/strong> and <strong>increasing proliferation concerns<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: In October 2025, Russia\u2019s State Duma voted to withdraw from the PMDA, ending the long-suspended U.S.\u2013Russia pact on disposing weapons-grade plutonium. About Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) It is a bilateral arms control accord between the United States and Russia, , to eliminate significant amounts of surplus weapons-grade plutonium from their military stockpiles.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/plutonium-management-and-disposition-agreement-pmda\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,164,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-347745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-international-relations-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}