Collecting uranium

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

Russia seized control of 30 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from a Soviet-era nuclear-reactor facility in Romania this week, completing a secret operation funded by the United States. The enriched uranium, enough to make a nuclear bomb, was taken from a storage site near Bucharest and flown to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. There, it will be converted into a form of uranium that cannot be used to make weapons. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, whose department provided $400,000 for the mission, called it a “major accomplishment” in eliminating a potential source of nuclear terrorism. The State Department has compiled a list of 24 other overseas reactors that use weapons-grade nuclear fuel and are considered vulnerable.