NNSA COMPLETES HEU CLEANOUT OF VIETNAM

The National Nuclear Security Administration yesterday completed a cleanout of Vietnam’s highly enriched uranium, removing 11 kilograms of HEU from a research reactor in a joint operation with the Russian Federation. The material, from the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute, was flown from Ho Chi Minh City to Russia, where it will be downblended into commercial nuclear fuel. Vietnam is the 11^th country to give up all of its HEU since President Obama’s Prague speech in 2009. “Since President Obama laid out his nuclear security vision in Prague in 2009, the United States and its international partners have made remarkable strides in reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism by securing, consolidating and eliminating weapons-usable nuclear materials,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a statement. “Today, with the complete removal of all highly enriched uranium from Vietnam, we can say that Vietnam’s decision to remove and secure vulnerable nuclear material demonstrates the international community’s commitment to ensure that terrorists never acquire a nuclear weapon.”