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Newsletter:  May 2003/ Issue 4
Economic Cooperation with Russia’s Nuclear Cities:  PNNL Hosts Zheleznogorsk Mayor Andrei Kartagin

In October, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) hosted Mayor Andrei Kartagin of Zheleznogorsk, a closed nuclear city, as part of its cooperation with Russia under the National Nuclear Safety Administration’s (NNSA) Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI).

The closed nuclear cities, designed, tested and manufactured nuclear weapons during the Soviet era. NCI is an effort on the part of NNSA to assist the closed cities in their economic transition by helping former weapons experts to find peaceful, commercial applications for their knowledge. A component of the initiative has been the establishment of the International Development Centers (IDCs), the mission of which is to improve business infrastructure and promote economic diversification in the closed cities. Both NCI and the IDC program make important contributions to DOE’s nonproliferation objectives in Russia.

Mayor Katargin, who is described by PNNL NCI program manager, Ron Nesse, as a “progressive commercial type who is very, very good at what he does,” also visited PNNL a few years ago when NCI was launched. This latest visit was to “see what has been successful here (in Richland, where PNNL is based) and what is applicable to their experience and bring ideas back and see what works,” said Nesse, of the delegation’s US tour.

During the three-and-a-half day October visit, Kartagin was accompanied by his Deputy Mayor, Pavel Yakushin, and Sergei Usoltsev, Director of Zheleznogorsk’s IDC. The delegation met with PNNL staff and business experts, and toured business incubators and organizations in the Tri-Cities area including TRIDEC, a regional organization promoting business growth, and a forest product plant in Yakima that is presently undergoing plant modernization. The group also met with investors in Seattle, and staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee, before returning to Siberia.

Zheleznogorsk is in the process of evaluating and adjusting its economic strategy, as planners in Richland, periodically do. The delegation sought to increase business contacts in the United States and gain a better understanding of how to meet the economic needs of plural interests and industries. To this end, the City of Zheleznogorsk presently has about ten working groups in which hundreds of its citizens are participating.

The connection between PNNL and Zheleznogorsk extends further than the cooperation by their governments; they share a similar past. Richland, near the Hanford nuclear site, has also been making the transition from nuclear production to the commercial sector over past years. Although circumstances in the two cities are not identical—Richland, for example, has stronger infrastructure and its residents are already familiar with the open market system—Richland provides an interesting case study from which ideas and approaches to economic transition can be culled.

In addition to exchanging ideas and serving as host to Mayor Kartagin, PNNL is working with the business community in Zheleznogorsk on several projects, including one to establish a new software company, Novosoft Zheleznogorsk, and another to modernize the city’s wood processing plant.

According to Nesse, the visit by the Zheleznogorsk delegation was constructive for both sides, providing insight to PNNL staff involved in economic diversification activities. He also remarked, “Kartagin has been a pleasure to watch in his progress… and has done a very good job in NCI.”