SHIPMENT OF RADIOLOGICAL SOURCES: CORRECTING THE

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000389 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, EUR/PRA JOHN CONLON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC EAID ENRG KNNP RS AM SUBJECT: SHIPMENT OF RADIOLOGICAL SOURCES: CORRECTING THE RECORD REF: A) YEREVAN 258 B) CONLON-WITMER 2/23/06 E-MAIL Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. (SBU) On March 20, the executive director of the Armenian quasi-governmental "Research Center for the Problem of the Nonproliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction" (NPC) Karen Gasparyan, corrected inaccurate assertions (ref A) that the U.S. Department of Energy would fund the transfer of two radiological sources from Armenia to Russia. Gasparyan told us the IAEA, and not the U.S. Department of Energy, would provide the funds to facilitate the transfer. A series of commercial and government contracts involving the IAEA, Russian "Isotop," RusAtom, the Armenian quasi-governmental Radioactive Waste Storage Agency, and Armenia's NPC, paved the way to deliver the sources to Russia, Gasparyan said. Under terms of the contract, the parties had until "the end of 2006" to complete the transfer, according to Gasparyan. Gasparyan told us the NPC is still working to finalize import-export logistics "and other contract requirements," including obtaining shipping containers from Russia, before the NPC delivers the radiological materials to Isotop. EVANS