The U.S. and Kazakstan have started talks on how to shift 3.3 tons of weapons-grade plutonium inland from a potentially vulnerable Caspian Sea port

The U.S. and Kazakstan have started talks on how to shift 3.3 tons of weapons-grade plutonium inland from a potentially vulnerable Caspian Sea port, say officials familiar with the matter. The plutonium was created by a Soviet-built nuclear breeder reactor, called a BN-350, in the port city of Aktau from 1972 until 1999. U.S. officials say there is sufficient plutonium to produce hundreds of nuclear weapons. Specialists are to finish packing the plutonium in 13-foot-long steel canisters within the next month. U.S. officials say the material is safely stored for the time being.But some Kazak and U.S. specialists worry that storing the plutonium in the port permanently leaves it vulnerable to theft by anyone seeking to develop nuclear weapons. The location is particularly exposed to Iran, which also borders the Caspian south of Aktau. Last month, the U.S. asked Kazakstan for suggestions on how Washington could assist in moving the plutonium 1,350 miles northeast of Aktau to Semipalatinsk, a former nuclear testing site, say officials familiar with the plan. Sarah Lennon, an Energy Department spokeswoman, says the U.S. still hasn't agreed to get involved in the shipment. But people familiar with the matter say that officials in other Bush administration departments, including the Pentagon, believe the U.S. should assist, and that it is likely that Washington will help in some way. Kazak Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik, who is in charge of the project, declined to be interviewed. It is the second major operation in which Kazakstan and the U.S. have cooperated to safeguard nuclear material left over here after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. In a secret operation in 1994 called Project Sapphire, the U.S. flew 1,320 pounds of highly enriched uranium to Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Aktau reactor, the only such plant built by the Soviets, produced electricity and desalinated water for Aktau. In 1995, Kazakstan and the U.S. began working on plans to mothball it and move its plutonium to Semipalatinsk.