A joint U.S.-Russian operation yesterday recovered about 30 pounds of weapon-grade uranium from a Soviet-era research reactor facility in Romania, according to the Washington Post (see GSN, Jan. 3).

During the operation, eight canisters containing 80-percent enriched uranium were removed from storage at the Pitesti Institute for Nuclear Research, west of Bucharest, according to the Post.  The Romanian uranium was chosen for removal because of the significant amount present and because it could have been easily stolen by terrorists, U.S. officials said. 

“You could throw it in the back of a truck and drive away with it,” said Paul Longsworth, U.S. Energy Department deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation.  Because the uranium was “fresh fuel” that had not been irradiated, it could have been transported with relatively low risk, he said.

The uranium was transported to the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant in Russia, where it will be blended down to a lower enrichment level for use as nuclear power plant fuel, according to the Post.  The Energy Department provided $400,000 for the operation.  The uranium retrieval operation was planned over the last several months with Russia, Romania and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Longsworth said.  To obtain Romanian cooperation, the United States agreed to convert the research reactor at the Pitesti Institute to use nonweapon-grade uranium, the Post reported. 

“It’s win-win,” said a senior U.S. energy official.  “The Russians wanted the (highly enriched) uranium, the Romanians wanted a new (low-enriched uranium) core for their reactor and to be seen as helpful in the nonproliferation world, and we’ve wanted to get this done for a long time and remove this threat,” the official said (Susan Glasser, Washington Post, Sept. 22).

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