SRS receives 32 pounds of highly enriched uranium from Australia

The Savannah River Site has become the home of an Australian import that is a lot less cute than a kangaroo or koala.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced Thursday that the Savannah River Site will be the new home for 32 pounds of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in spent nuclear fuel from Australia.

The HEU spent fuel was transported by truck, rail and ship under secure conditions with the cooperation of Australia and several international organizations. With the completion of this shipment, NNSA's Global Threat Reduction Initiative has successfully removed more than 220 pounds of U.S.-origin HEU fuel from Australia since 1998.

"The NNSA worked closely with Australia to oversee this important shipment of highly enriched uranium spent nuclear fuel," said NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Ken Baker. "The removal of this U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium from Australia is another major milestone in NNSA's cooperative effort to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation and demonstrates the strong international commitment to nonproliferation."

To complete this shipment, NNSA worked in close cooperation with the Australian government and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization to return this material, which was transported to the United States by ship. This is the 47th shipment of U.S.-origin fuel safely returned to the United States.

The U.S. and Australia are longtime partners on nonproliferation policy. Last September, the two nations announced the 10-year extension of an arrangement for cooperation on international nuclear safeguards.

Australia and the United States work together under the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative to recommend policies to strengthen the international nonproliferation regime, develop more efficient and effective safeguards technologies to prevent nuclear proliferation and help to establish safeguards infrastructure in aspiring nuclear states.

Since its inception, the U.S.-origin fuel removal program has returned more than 2,670 pounds of U.S.-origin HEU fuel - the equivalent of about 48 nuclear weapons - to the United States from 27 countries. The program has removed all eligible U.S.-origin HEU fuel from the following 17 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Thailand.