As early as four years ago Russia together with the USA and the IAEA had decided to give a hand for countries with nuclear materials they don’t need anymore. Two years later at the International Summit on Nuclear Safety this offer was supported by 47 states, among which were members of the late Eastern Bloc, having been importing the materials for science and power engineering needs from the Soviet Union. Rosatom decided to take the responsibility – highly enriched fuel is now taken to Russia where it is processed internationally safeguarded.

The Last Batch
According to the agreement, 68 kg of nuclear materials were to be removed from the Rez town, situated near Prague, where back in the period of socialism was a research reactor. The work was conducted by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, Nuclear Research Institute (Czech Republic), Rosatom and the IAEA. The operation itself – packing and transportation – was fully conducted by Russian atomists under control of the IAEA.

“For the last ten years six shipments of highly enriched nuclear fuel from the Czech Republic to the Russian Federation have been successfully implemented. As a result all highly enriched nuclear fuel was completely removed from the territory of the Czech Republic” – said Rosatom. The last batch of radioactive materials was removed back at the end of the March, however the Czech side made the information public only now, after there had been a confirmation from Russia that the fuel was sent for reprocessing.

International Assessment
As said the President of the State Office for Nuclear Safety of the Czech Republic, Dana Drabova, there had been highly enriched fuel enough for two medium-sized nuclear weapons. Reprocessed, it is safe and can be used for nuclear power engineering purposes. “The removal of highly enriched fuel was the ultimate point of a many years work, – emphasized US National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden. – The United States appreciate the cooperation of their partners, the Russian and Czech governments”.

The Czech Republic has become the seventh country with highly enriched fuel removed from its territory in past four years. The operations are soon to be conducted for Poland and Uzbekistan. As for countries like Bulgaria, Serbia, Latvia, Romania, all highly enriched radioactive waste had been removed from their territories earlier, before 2010. According to the program of returning spent fuel, Russia remove highly enriched fuel from reactors build on Russian technologies, so the same does American side.