Russia Will Carry 300 Kilos of Uranium From Germany
Russia will carry over 300 kilos of enriched uranium from a Soviet-era nuclear research reactor in eastern Germany back to Russia, the Reuters news agency reported Thursday.
The date of the airlift can not be released because of the security reasons, a nuclear official in Germany noticed saying 200 kg of highly-enriched uranium and 100 kg of low-enriched uranium will be airlifted from the research reactor in Rossendorf, outside Desden.
The research reactor was built by the Soviet Union in the former communist East Germany, which ceased to exist after German reunification in 1990. The Rossendorf centre remains a key site for nuclear research.
The recovery of the uranium is carried out in the course of a joint U.S.-Russian programme in cooperation with a U.N. nuclear watchdog. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) is aimed at finding, securing and recovering dangerous nuclear materials around the world to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.
The U.S. Department of Energy fact sheet from the August 2006 said the GTRI programme had secured more than 400 sites around the world containing enough radioactive material for 6,000 ”dirty bombs”.
