The Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology in Ukraine refuses to give up its stocks of highly enriched uranium reactor fuel, even for security reasons, institute Director General Volodymyr Lapshin said Wednesday (see GSN, Oct. 10).

As the United States has expanded efforts to secure at-risk nuclear material around the world, it has offered to purchase the institute’s 75 kilograms of 90 percent enriched uranium to prevent rogue states such as Iraq from obtaining it, according to reports.  The institute, however, needs the material for research, Lapshin said, and institute officials could not sell it without clearance from higher offices.

“Nuclear materials stored in the institute are state-owned and controlled by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], so we cannot move them to another country without clearance at every level.”

When asked whether Iraq has contacted the institute about the uranium, Lapshin said that “there were no direct contacts with Iraq on this issue” (Interfax, Oct. 9 in FBIS-SOV, Oct. 9).

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