WARSAW, Poland, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Nearly 100 pounds of dangerous weapons-grade uranium has been covertly removed from a research reactor in Poland by U.S. authorities.
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Agency became aware of the cache at a civilian institute about 20 miles from Warsaw, and officials worked quietly for several months to plan its retrieval and disposal in Russia, the Boston Globe reported.
It was picked up under heavy guard, and taken to an undisclosed site in Russia as part of the U.S.-Russia Global Threat Reduction Initiative established in 2004.
The United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency played a role in securing the enriched uranium, which will be "downblended" into a safer form, officials who asked not to be named told the newspaper.
Under the program, 14 shipments of more than 500 pounds of enriched uranium has been returned to Russia from facilities in Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Libya, Uzbekistan, Latvia, and the Czech Republic, the report said.
