The Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute and the Russia Atomic Reactors Scientific Research Institute signed a contract in Tokyo on Tuesday for joint research into the conversion of plutonium, recovered from scrapped Russian nuclear weapons, into fuel for nonmilitary use. The project is the world's first example of international cooperation to turn plutonium retrieved from dismantled nuclear weapons into fuel for nuclear power reactors. The joint project is to last until 2003 at an estimated cost to Japan of 200 million yen.