The National Nuclear Security Administration, alongside Poland, Russia, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, has repatriated 61 kilograms of Russian-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Poland, making the country the 31st plus Taiwan to become HEU-free, the Department of Energy announced Monday.
The two-day operation followed 10 years of cooperation to remove over 700 kilograms of HEU from Poland, DOE said. HEU-free countries are defined as those with less than 1 kilogram of HEU.
The HEU spent fuel from the Maria Research Reactor in Otwock-Swierk was loaded into Russian spent nuclear fuel transportation casks, which were placed into International Standards Organization containers and airlifted from the Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport to a facility in Russia.
The U.S. funded the operation, DOE said, noting that the Maria Research Reactor was fully converted from HEU to low-enriched uranium two years ago. The research reactor is used for the production of radioisotopes, neutron and condensed matter physics research, neutron radiography, and other related applications.
“NNSA applauds the strong leadership of Poland for taking measures to secure this material and commends the strong support of the Russian Federation and IAEA for this important international nonproliferation project,” NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz said in a statement.
The NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative was established in 2004 to convert research reactors from using HEU fuel to low-enriched uranium, remove excess nuclear and radiological materials from foreign sites, and protect such materials from theft worldwide.
The agency said in 2014 that the program had removed or confirmed disposition of over 5,100 kilograms of HEU and plutonium, and that it planned to remove an additional 1,431 kilograms from foreign countries by 2022. The program was restructured in fiscal 2016 into the NNSA’s Global Material Security and Material Management and Minimization programs.