Indonesia recently converted its remaining holdings of highly enriched uranium (HEU) into a low-enriched form, becoming the final nation in Southeast Asia to divest itself of the weapon-grade material, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Monday.
The NNSA said it worked with the Indonesian Nuclear Industry LLC, National Nuclear Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency of the Republic of Indonesia to downblend 1.4 kilograms of HEU.
The White House announced on April 1 that Indonesia had converted all of its fresh, or unirradiated, HEU to LEU, with U.S. assistance. The nations pledged to downblend the nation’s stock of irradiated HEU — kept in more than 500 bottles held in hot cells — by September of this year. The uranium was “residual material” from manufacturing of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 by Indonesian Nuclear Industry LLC, according to an NNSA press release.
Indonesia is the 30th country, plus Taiwan, to be declared free of HEU, the release says. That status is defined as holding less than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium.
The NNSA provided $250,000 to assist with equipment procurement and other facility preparations for the downblending, an agency spokesperson said. The effort included input from experts at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.. who were instrumental in developing the process for the downblending, training facility personnel, and overseeing initial operations, according to an agency press release.
“The elimination of all highly enriched uranium from Indonesia permanently reduces the threat that it could be used by a terrorist to make a nuclear weapon,” NNSA Deputy Administrator Anne Harrington said in the release. “This nonproliferation achievement is particularly significant as it makes all of Southeast Asia HEU-free. It also highlights NNSA’s commitment to finding domestic disposition solutions for proliferation-sensitive nuclear material around the world.”
