Russia and the US have facilitated shipping 16 kilograms of highly enriched uranium out of Vietnam in an effort to secure hazardous fuel that could be deployed in nukes.
The amount of uranium removed from Vietnam by the US was more
than half of what is needed to make a crude nuclear weapon,
according to AP. The IAEA nations believe such material should be
secured for the fear it could fall into the hands of terrorists.
According to Moniz the Vietnam accomplishment “will have
removed nearly all highly enriched uranium from Southeast
Asia.”
Moniz cautioned against possible proliferation of highly nuclear
material in the world.
"Highly enriched uranium still exists in too many places where
there are viable alternatives," he said.
The first uranium shipment from the city of Dalat took place six
years ago. The latest delivery was second this month, Russian
envoy Grigory Berdennikov told Reuters.
According to Nuclear Security Governance Experts Group (NSGEG)
lobby group some 1,440 tons of highly enriched uranium and around
500 tons of plutonium are stockpiled globally. Refined uranium is
needed to power nuclear reactors but in the wrong hands could be
used to make a bomb.
After Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Dalat research center
reactor was shut down and re-started in 1983 using Soviet nuclear
fuel. An agreement between Russia and the United States has
obliged the nuclear material to be returned to the country it
came from.