More nuclear fuel removed from Libya, US says http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-27T030743Z_01_N26353435_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-LIBYA-USA.xml
Wed Jul 26, 2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three more kg (6.6 pounds) of weapons-capable highly enriched uranium have been removed from Libya, bringing to 20 kg (44 pounds) the total put under international control since the country abandoned its nuclear arms program in 2003, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The recent two-day operation was carried out by Russia, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration and the U.N. watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"Libya's cooperation and commitment was key to this joint nonproliferation effort. It is a clear indication of Libya's continued commitment to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and proliferation-sensitive materials," Linton Brooks, the U.S. agency's administrator, said in a written statement.
A U.S. spokesman said an initial 17 kg (37 pounds) of highly enriched uranium, or HEU, was removed from Libya in 2004 but was not previously announced.
The latest shipment was part of a process to remove all Russian-origin HEU material from Libya. The U.S. agency did not say how much was left.
A report on Monday by the Libyan news agency quoted leader Muammar Gaddafi as saying Libya at one stage came close to building a nuclear bomb, the first time any Libyan official had confirmed the North African country had been trying to build a nuclear bomb.
One U.S. official who deals with nonproliferation issues told Reuters the claim was "not credible.
Libya possessed nuclear material but not enough expertise to complete the job. "I don't think Gaddafi was close," the official said.
At Libya's Tajoura Research Center, the HEU was loaded into three specialized transportation containers provided by Russia, while U.S. and IAEA experts monitored the process.
The containers were airlifted under guard from an airport near Tripoli, Libya, to a secure facility in Russia where the HEU will be blended into low enriched uranium, or LEU, which is less suitable for weapons production.
The operation was part of the U.S. global threat reduction initiative to secure vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials around the world as quickly as possible. In all, some 189 kg (416 pounds) of HEU have been returned in 13 shipments to Russia from Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, Latvia, and the Czech Republic, as well as Libya.
In December 2003, Libya said it would abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs and allow international inspections. The move helped the OPEC oil producer repair relations with the West after decades of estrangement.
The United States said in May it would restore formal ties and take Libya off the list of countries deemed state sponsors of terrorism.
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