Highly Enriched Uranium Repatriated from the Czech Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Six kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) that could be used for nuclear weapons were safely returned to the Russian Federation from the Czech Republic under the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) in a mission completed ­on 22nd December 2004. The mission was a joint effort between the United States, the Czech Republic, Russia, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“The recovery, return and eventual elimination of highly enriched uranium is an important component of our Global Threat Reduction Initiative’s campaign to reduce the threat posed by dangerous nuclear and radiological material worldwide,” said Secretary Abraham. “We applaud the strong leadership of the Czech Republic for taking measures to secure this material and working cooperatively with the United States, Russia and the IAEA to successfully return it to Russia. ”

The highly enriched uranium was airlifted under guard from an airport near Prague, Czech Republic to a secure facility in Dimitrovgrad, Russia. There, the highly enriched uranium will be down-blended to low enriched uranium.

The nuclear fuel was originally supplied to the Czech Republic by the Soviet Union for use in the Soviet designed 10 megawatt LVR-15 multi-purpose research reactor, located in Rez near the Czech capital, Prague. In 2000, NNSA and the Czech Nuclear Research Institute Rez plc completed a joint project to upgrade security of the nuclear material at Rez until it could be returned to Russia. Earlier this year, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Director Alex­­­ander Rumyantsev signed a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Russian Federation governments to facilitate the repatriation of Russian-origin (HEU) research reactor fuel to Russia.

During the one-day mission, approximately six kilograms of HEU were loaded into four specialized transportation containers. IAEA safeguards inspectors, NNSA technical experts and Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety inspectors were present in Rez to monitor the process of loading the fuel into canisters. The facility in Russia that received the material has worked closely with the NNSA to implement security upgrades.

The mission of the GTRI is to identify, secure, recover and/or facilitate the final disposition of high-risk vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials around the world that pose a threat to the United States and the international community. The initiative will comprehensively address vulnerable material and radiological materials throughout the world and secure and/or remove these materials of concern as expeditiously as possible.

This is the sixth successful shipment ofHEU being return to Russia. In the past two years, NNSA has repatriated a total of 51 kg of HEU to Russia from Romania, Bulgaria, Libya, and Uzbekistan. And in August 2002, 48 kg of Russian-origin HEU were repatriated from a research reactor near Belgrade, Serbia.

[Press Release of the Nuclear Research Institute at Rez]