Global Threat Reduction Initiative – Russian Nuclear Material Removal Progress

Beginning December 1999, and continuing to the present, representatives from the United States, the Russian Federation, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been discussing a program to return to Russia Soviet- or Russian-supplied highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel currently stored at foreign research reactors. Trilateral discussions among the United States, Russian Federation, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have identified more than 20 research reactors in 17 countries that have Soviet- or Russian-supplied fuel. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative’s Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return Program is an important aspect of the U.S. Government’s commitment to cooperate with the other nations to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons-usable proliferation-attractive nuclear materials. To date, 185 kilograms of Russian-origin HEU have been shipped to Russia from Serbia, Latvia, Libya, Uzbekistan, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. The pilot spent fuel shipment from Uzbekistan to Russia was completed in April 2006.