Energy Dept reports removing last of enriched uranium from Venezuela, reducing risk to US, S America

The Department of Energy says the agency has removed 30 pounds of enriched uranium from a research reactor in Venezuela, "reducing risk" to the U.S. and South America that it could be used to "threaten the world with nuclear terrorism."

“The safe removal of all enriched uranium from Venezuela sends another signal to the world of a restored and renewed Venezuela,” Brandon Williams, administrator for the agency's National Nuclear Security Administration, said Friday in announcing the joint effort with the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research.

"The people of DNN and its predecessor offices have decades of experience in removing nuclear material from around the globe and ensuring that it cannot be used to threaten the world with nuclear terrorism."

Venezuela had built the RV-1 reactor to support physics and nuclear research. In 1991, it finished its research work, and the enriched uranium became surplus material. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited Venezuela in February, and work began removing and transporting the material in casks to the U.S.

The material arrived in the U.S. in early May, then was transported to the Savannah River Site, a DOE industrial complex in South Carolina, for processing and reuse.