A private company, USEC, was "spun-off" the Department of Energy, giving it the job of providing enriched uranium to the US. In addition to enriching uranium ore, they were asked to take old atom bombs from the USSR, and include that material in their nuclear fuel product. This line of production was more costly, so USEC secretly discouraged Russia from accelerating the shipment of its warheads to the US for processing. (Joseph Stiglitz)
[1] NY Times article, before the scandal
[2] Paducah Sun article about Russian warhead glut
[3] Stiglitz on the 'hush money' to MinAtom, the Russian partner
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