The United States Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has announced the successful removal of all remaining highly enriched uranium from a legacy research reactor in Venezuela, marking a significant milestone in reducing nuclear security risks across South America and safeguarding the US homeland.
The operation was conducted in close coordination with the Venezuelan Ministry of Science and Technology, the International Atomic Energy Agency, experts from the United Kingdom, and personnel from the US State Department, reflecting a broad international effort to secure sensitive nuclear material.
Brandon Williams, Administrator of the NNSA, emphasised that the safe removal of enriched uranium from Venezuela symbolises a renewed and stabilised Venezuela. He credited President Trump’s decisive leadership for enabling the teams to complete in months what would normally have taken years.
The reactor in question, the RV‑1, had supported physics and nuclear research for decades, but following the cessation of research activities in 1991, uranium enriched above the 20 per cent threshold remained as surplus material, posing a long‑term proliferation risk.
NNSA’s Office of Defence Nuclear Non-Proliferation, working alongside experts from the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research, successfully removed 13.5 kilograms of uranium less than six weeks after the initial site visit.
The material was securely packaged into a spent fuel cask and transported approximately 100 miles overland to a Venezuelan port. From there, it was loaded onto a specialised carrier supplied by the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Transport Solutions. The shipment arrived in the United States in early May and was transferred to the Savannah River Site for processing and reuse.
Dr Matt Napoli, Deputy Administrator of the DNN, personally travelled to Venezuela to oversee the mission and praised the professionalism and expertise of the teams involved. He highlighted NNSA’s long history of removing nuclear material and the extensive know‑how that underpinned the success of this operation.
The uranium will now be processed at the H‑Canyon chemical separations facility to obtain high‑assay low‑enriched uranium, which will be used in future US nuclear energy programmes, thereby turning a security risk into a resource for peaceful energy development.
The NNSA further noted that since 1996, it and its predecessor offices have removed or confirmed the disposition of more than 7,350 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and plutonium from dozens of countries worldwide.
This latest mission in Venezuela forms part of a broader global non-proliferation effort aimed at reducing the availability of weapons‑usable nuclear material and strengthening international nuclear security architecture.
The operation also underscores the importance of sustained cooperation between national governments, international agencies, and technical experts in addressing shared security challenges.
ANI
