WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said a deal in which Russia converts weapons-grade uranium to a fuel source for the U.S. power sector is in its final stages.
"For two decades, one in 10 ten light bulbs in America has been powered by nuclear material from Russian nuclear warheads," Moniz said in a statement Thursday. "The 1993 United States-Russian Federation Highly Enriched Uranium Purchase Agreement has proven to be one of the most successful nuclear non-proliferation partnerships ever undertaken."
Russia, under the terms of the 1993 agreement, agreed to convert 500 tons of highly enriched uranium, enough to make 20,000 nuclear bombs, to low- enriched uranium and send it to the United States, where it was used as a fuel source in nuclear power plants.
U.S., Russian and industry officials will observe the final delivery of low-enriched uranium at a port facility in Kentucky on Dec. 10.
