The U.S. State Department announced on May 14 that it has completed an operation to export highly enriched uranium reserves from Venezuela for subsequent disposal at the Savannah River facility in South Carolina.
In a statement, the department reported that the United States, in partnership with Venezuela and the United Kingdom, with technical support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), successfully extracted excess highly enriched uranium (HEU) from a closed Venezuelan research reactor. The material was delivered by the UK to the Savannah River landfill in Aiken, South Carolina, where it arrived safely.
The State Department noted that under IAEA supervision, the materials were transferred to Venezuela during the 1960s for nuclear energy development purposes. The announcement emphasized that this operation demonstrates the commitment of both the IAEA and the United States to joint efforts aimed at ensuring global safety from nuclear threats.
