Global Security Newswire

All highly enriched uranium has been removed from Latvia as of today, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced (see GSN, May 26, 2005).

More than 14 kilograms of Soviet-origin material in spent nuclear fuel was shipped under guard from the shuttered Salaspils Research Reactor to a secured facility in Russia.

The shipment follows the transport in May 2005 of three kilograms of fresh HEU fuel from Latvia to Russia.

The shipments occurred under the U.S. agency's Global Threat Reduction Initiative with cooperation from Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"With this shipment of highly enriched uranium spent nuclear fuel, NNSA has completed the removal of all HEU from Latvia," NNSA chief Thomas D'Agostino said in a press release.  "This cooperative effort to secure dangerous material will help reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation and prevent nuclear terrorism."

The Global Threat Reduction Initiative in fiscal 2007 removed from various sites more than 280 kilograms of Soviet-origin HEU fuel.  That is more than the total transported in the preceding half-decade through the program.

The National Nuclear Security Administration is also supporting efforts in Latvia to "detect, secure and dispose" of substances that could be used in nuclear or radiological weapons and to prevent smuggling of such material, according to a press release.

Latvia is the first nation to rid itself of highly enriched uranium from the former Soviet Union through the U.S. initiative.  More than 600 kilograms of fresh and spent fuel has been returned to Russia from Latvia, Libya, Vietnam and seven other nations.

The program has removed all U.S.-origin HEU fuel from 13 nations, including Brazil, South Korea and Spain (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, May 16).