Support boosted for former Soviet weapons scientists

Canada has announced $180 million in funding for new projects under the Global Partnership Program (GPP), including $33.6 million to support the peaceful work of scientists from the former Soviet Union. The bulk of the funding is directed through the International Science and Technology Centre, which has funded 2,300 projects valued at US$710 million since its establishment in 1992. The program offers Canadian scientists opportunities to collaborate with their counterparts in Russia and the former Soviet Union in areas such as nuclear safety, biotechnology and life sciences, energy, environment, space technologies, aeronautics and surface transportation, materials, instrumentation, information and communications, chemistry, general physics and other basic sciences. The remainder of the new funding goes to nuclear security ($86.3 million), the design of a biological containment facility ($3.8 million) and the dismantling of five decommissioned nuclear submarines ($56.3 million)….