Debt swapping as a tool for economic and social stabilization in Russia's closed nuclear cities (briefing paper)

Technical Report · Wed Mar 08 04:00:00 EST 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/751989· OSTI ID:751989

Fuller, JL ^[1]; Leek, KM

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1. PNNL

The next great issue on the Russian landscape will be management of its foreign debt. In the near future the United States will be called upon to lead an international program of debt restructuring to assist Russia in overcoming the burden of its debt trap. With debt service obligations equal to 50{percent} of 1999 revenues, Russia has virtually no chance of sustaining a program of economic recovery without debt relief (Hardt, 1999). With some form of debt restructuring a foregone conclusion, Russia, the United States, and world community have a vital stake in searching for creative ways to transform the inevitability of debt restructuring into something of value and constructive to Russia and the problems it faces. This was the rationale behind debt-for-nature swaps which emerged in the early 1980s in Latin American and Eastern Europe as a means of relieving developing nations of their crippling foreign debt. Debt-for-nature swaps served both domestic and international needs by converting a portion of foreign debt, often at steep discounts, into local currency that was then used to fund programs to preserve the environment. The debt swap mechanism provides the prospect of getting something of real value where nothing is expected. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has proposed to use the same model to synergistically capitalize defense threat reduction activities and environmental remediation within Russia's closed nuclear cities. Preventing the emigration of nuclear technology, expertise, and hardware from these cities to subnational groups and countries of proliferation concern is one of the world's foremost pressing problems. It is in the best national security interest of the United states to assist Russia in overcoming the legacy of the Cold War by helping to address the catastrophic environmental and public health effects of nuclear production that negatively impact economic stabilization.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 751989
• Report Number(s): PNNL-13097
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
NON-PROLIFERATION POLICY
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
TECHNOLOGY IMPACTS
URBAN AREAS