VIENNA, April 20 (UPI) -- The United Nations says spent nuclear fuel containing enough uranium to produce two and a half nuclear bombs has been returned to Russia from Uzbekistan.
"It is the first time that fuel used in a nuclear research reactor -- referred to as 'spent' -- has been repatriated to Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union," said a statement issued by the world organization's Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The transfer was completed Wednesday in a secret mission under monitoring by the IAEA as part of its efforts to stop the diversion of such material to terrorists.
"There was particular concern about the Uzbek spent fuel given its significant quantity and that it was no longer 'self protecting'," said IAEA Crosscutting Coordinator for Research Reactors Pablo Adelfang.
"This means that the fuel has lost its high radioactivity. In other words, it would no longer injure anyone who handled it and would not deter potential thieves," he said of the operation, a joint undertaking of the IAEA, the United States, Uzbekistan, Russia and Kazakhstan as part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.
GTRI seeks to identify, secure and recover high-risk vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials around the world.
The approximately 139 pounds of spent fuel was transported to Mayak, Russia, in four separate shipments under the secret operation, which was six years in the planning, the agency said.
In Russia, the fuel will be processed so that it can not be used for atomic bombs. Russia originally supplied the fuel for use in the 10 megawatt research reactor.
While this was the first such spent fuel transfer, about 24 pounds of fresh highly-enriched uranium was sent back from the same reactor in 2004.
