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Secret Soviet atomic cities fuel nuclear nightmares
By Clara Ferreira-Marques
MOSCOW, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Russia's nuclear cities were once elite centres of military research hidden in dark corners of the Soviet Union, fenced off from the outside world and painted out of ordinary road maps.
Now, their underpaid specialists fuel Western nightmares of nuclear leaks, thefts and terrorism.
Tales of suitcases filled with weapons-grade uranium are more often fiction than fact, experts say. But the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan has boosted demand for weapons of mass destruction -- and the marketability of the brain power to operate them.
"One of our biggest problems is the brain-drain, and we know many scientists have left the closed cities," defence analyst Alexander Pikayev told Reuters.
"Fortunately we know they left for the West and Israel, but if the (global) situation continues to develop in this way, we cannot rule out that they will move to other states."
Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in September's hijacked airliner attacks on U.S. landmarks, says he possesses nuclear and chemical weapons, a claim Russian leader Vladimir Putin has cast doubt on.
Moreover, analysts argue, drastic cuts to programmes funding the cities' conversion to civilian life could upset an already delicate balance.
"How could a group or a country fabricate a nuclear or radiological device out of materials they have acquired?" asked Jon Wolfstahl, a Washington-based associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
"I don't think they can produce a very small compact nuclear weapon without a lot of assistance, which raises the important question: are we doing enough to protect or prevent Russian nuclear experts from providing that assistance?"
The Nuclear Cities Initiative, announced in March 1998, was a concrete step towards addressing Russia's post-Cold War nuclear challenges, and intended to promote conversion in the dozen or so nuclear cities through private investment and development.
In its three pilot cities, the initiative opened business development and computer centres, and funded training on career changes and city leadership.
But the cash attributed to the initiative by the U.S. government has dwindled, sliding to an all-time low of around $6 million in 2002 from a peak of $30 million.
"The risk of a brain-drain is quite real and unfortunately it can grow, given that some U.S. programmes like the Nuclear Cities Initiative have been cut back," Pikayev said.
OUT OF BOUNDS
During Soviet rule, security concerns kept the closed cities off the map, hiding them under the names of postboxes in nearby towns -- Cheliabinsk-70, Tomsk-7 -- their interior unknown even to neighbouring villages. In return, their inhabitants lived lives of relative luxury.
The sealed enclaves tucked away in Russia's most remote regions were home not only to the heart of Russia's nuclear weapons industry, but also chemical and biological research.
The closed cities are still out of bounds for foreigners, but many are slowly beginning fresh, civilian lives with new names, new purposes and the right to a spot on the map.
And some say life in these cities -- showered with privileges at the height of the Soviet arms drive, but forgotten in the breakup of the Soviet Union -- is now little different from that in the rest of Russia.
"The situation in our closed cities, particularly in MinAtom (Atomic Energy Ministry) cities, is getting better," Dmitry Kovchegin, an analyst with the Moscow-based Center for Policy Studies in Russia said.
"I was in (the Siberian city of) Tomsk and I spoke to people from the chemical combine just one day after September 11 and they said there is no human leakage from their city," he said.
Instead of leaving for better-paid jobs abroad, students were competing to get positions at the plant, he said.
But others say there is still little to celebrate.
Valentin Tikhonov, a sociologist affiliated to the Russian Academy of Sciences, published a survey of five nuclear cities showing that 62 percent of employees earn less than $50 a month.
Unofficial figures place the wages of top nuclear workers at between $100-$300.
The lifeline, experts say, is private initiative and foreign investment. Wolfstahl quotes Intel as an example. The world's largest computer chip maker has a software and microchip design centre in Sarov (formerly Arzamas-16).
"You no longer need to have large factories or mass migration of individuals to take advantage of their talent," he said.
But there is little to keep foreign investors interested: obtaining a simple authorisation to visit any of the closed cities (military or otherwise) can take up to two months.
And security following the September 11 attacks has only increased the obstacles.
"The Russian government could do more -- maybe one thing is to give (the cities) a more open status," Kovchegin said, adding regional leaders keen to cash in taxes from the cities, which still enjoy tax perks, are stepping up pressure on Moscow.
Will the closer friendship between Russia and the West lead to a brighter outlook for these cities?
"I would like to believe the good relationship between Russia and the West would help us decide what to do with these cities," Pikayev said. "But at the same time it would help if the Americans raised their assistance."
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