PLANS FOR JAPANESE PU, REMOVAL OF EUROPEAN MATERIAL ANNOUNCED

As expected, at the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit yesterday the Obama Administration announced plans for disposal of highly enriched uranium and plutonium in Japan as well as the removal of material from Belgium and Italy. Japan and the United states pledged to remove all plutonium and HEU from the Fast Critical Assembly, which adds up to “hundreds of kilograms of nuclear material,” according to a joint U.S. and Japanese statement. “This material, once securely transported to the United States, will be sent to a secure facility and fully converted into less sensitive forms. The plutonium will be prepared for final disposition.  The HEU will be downblended to low enriched uranium (LEU) and utilized for civilian purposes,” according to the statement. 

 

At the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit, Belgium and Italy committed to removing highly enriched uranium and plutonium to the United States by this year’s meeting. Yesterday Belgium and the United States announced they have completed the removal of “a significant amount” of excess HEU and plutonium, according to a statement. Italy and the United States yesterday announced the removal of about 20 kilograms of HEU and plutonium. “This removal entailed extremely complex operations that required the development of new gloveboxes for plutonium packaging, the development of a new process to convert HEU from a solution to an oxide, the coordination of uranium shipments from three separate locations, the development of novel packaging configurations for the consolidation of plutonium materials within Italy, and the training and certification of personnel for specialized packaging operations,” according to the statement.