Project Management of the Closed Nuclear Cities Partnership (CNCP)

2002 to 2012

£40 million

UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)/UK Department of Trade and Industry

895 staff months of expertise in programme and project management; financial management; human resources strategy; partnering advice; SME support; science park development; conference facilitation and workshop management.

Russia’s weapons complex includes 10 closed nuclear cities with 760,000 inhabitants and employs approximately 124,000 workers, of whom around 10-15 percent are specialists with proliferation-sensitive knowledge, and a further 20-30 percent could access radiological materials. Some 12,000 jobs have or will be lost by 2012 due to government restructuring and rationalisation. Additionally approximately 3,000 specialists possess proliferation-sensitive knowledge in other countries of the FSU. Although the deteriorating economic and employment condition of the closed nuclear cities has been halted, morale and loyalty are low, with a shortage of alternative non-weapons based sources of employment.

The Russian Federation and the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2004 to establish the Closed Nuclear Cities Partnership as a complement to efforts by the international community to assist in the redirection of scientists and technicians. CNCP focuses on five cities: Sarov (Arzamas-16 in the Nizhny Novgorod region); Ozersk and Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-65 and -70, Ural region); and Seversk and Zheleznogorsk (Tomsk-7 and Krasnoyarsk-26, in Siberia). Through the International Science and Technology Centre (ISTC) in Moscow and the Science and Technology Centre in Ukraine (STCU), the UK programme also assists selected nuclear institutes in Yerevan, Sosny, Kharkiv, Tbilisi, Almaty, Kurchatov and Tashkent.

The aim of the CNCP programme is:

• To provide assistance in the restructuring of Russia’s Closed Nuclear Cities and relevant nuclear establishments in other FSU countries (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan).
• To create new lasting non-weapons employment opportunities for former weapons scientists and technicians.

The outputs of the UK programme are:

• increased non-weapons related employment among scientists and technicians;
• sustainable businesses created (preferably with UK partners);
• development of enterprises and entrepreneurship; and
• business infrastructure for local economic development improved.

By 2010, over 1,300 jobs have been created by the CNCP programme through over one hundred projects at nuclear institutes and in closed nuclear cities in the FSU.

Project Management Services to DTI/DECC:

• Assist DTI/DECC in all aspects of the project cycle with regard to the UK Global Threat Reduction Programme on addressing the nuclear legacy in FSU countries.
• Design of projects to ensure effective use of UK Government’s financial contribution and value for money.
• Market research and business planning to assess the viability of business expansion projects.
• Sub-contracting activities associated with projects, monitoring progress and performance and ensuring certification, quality assurance and risk management.
• Implementation of local economic development and support tasks (e.g. workshops and study visits).
• Communication of the aims and results.

Implementation of the UK-Russia Closed Nuclear Cities Partnership (CNCP):

• Providing experts for developing technologies from the closed nuclear cities to commercialisation.
• Offering mentoring support to SMEs and institutes in the preparation and implementation of job creation projects.
• Supporting the sustainable development of the towns through local economic development.
• Disbursement of grants for business expansion – US$ 18 million has been allocated, of which US$ 12.5M has been committed to date.
• Publicising the partnership through its website (www.cncp.ru) and a regular newsletter.