NCI

The Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI) enhances global security by promoting economic opportunities and social support for displaced scientists, engineers and technicians in the Russian nuclear weapons complex.

The NCI was initiated to address a serious economic strain on key facilities in the Russian nuclear complex which has raised nuclear proliferation concerns, particularly the potential leakage of fissile materials and knowledgeable scientists to countries posing a proliferation risk. The Russian government also has determined its nuclear complex should be re-configured to a smaller size and that this objective requires creating alternative peaceful employment opportunities for many of the weapons scientists, technicians and engineers who would be displaced by this process.

Examples of steel products and metal tags marked by equipment.

Auto-Identification Technology Business Development — The NCI helped establish a self-supporting company in Snezhinsk to market equipment and provide support services for bar coding and other automated identification technologies. Target customers are Ural-Siberian nuclear and non-nuclear industrial and trade facilities. The project involves personnel from the All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics who have used bar code technology and recognize the commercial advantages of this technology and the need for Russified bar code equipment, software and documentation.

Plant Growth Stimulant — The NCI agreed to fund a facility in Russia to manufacture and package an extract of the Siberian fir as a plant growth stimulant for farming and gardening. The same extracts have can be used as additives to soaps, deodorants, toothpastes and foods. The project became the first tenant of the Technopark site in Russia. The business strategy has now been established, the partnerships formed and the first batch of extracts manufactured. Further development will include expanding the facility and setting up an additional facility.