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Abstract Number:	20060200
Headline:	HEU Fuel Safely Returned to Russia From Libya
Date:	27 July 2006
Bibliography:	National Nuclear Security Administration press release, http://www.nnsa.doe.gov
Author:
Orig. Src.:
Case:
Material:	HEU fuel

Abstract:

Three kilograms of fresh highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel were safely and securely returned to Russia from the Tajoura research reactor in Libya, according to a 27 July 2006 press release from the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Combined with a 2004 shipment of 17 kilograms of HEU returned to Russia in 2004, the recent shipment brings the total amount of returned Russian-origin HEU from Libya to 20 kilograms.

The two-day operation to remove the HEU was conducted jointly under NNSA's Global Threat Reduction Initiative by the United States, Libya, the Russian Federation, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). At Libya's Tajoura Research Center, the HEU was loaded into three specialized transportation containers provided by Russia, while U.S. and IAEA experts monitored the process. The containers were airlifted under guard from an airport near Tripoli, Libya, to a secure facility in Russia where the HEU will be downblended into low enriched uranium (LEU), which is less suitable for weapons production.

GTRI activities already completed in Libya include the conversion of the Tajoura critical assembly to operate on LEU fuel and the supply of replacement LEU fuel to enable the conversion of the Tajoura IRT-1 research reactor, which will be converted to run on LEU in the next several months.

{Entered 10/24/06 SG}

The Center for Nonproliferation Studies has not verified the accuracy or veracity of this report or the facts presented therein.  For more information on the material in this database please contact Dr. Scott Parrish at sparrish@miis.edu.

This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2003 by MIIS.

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