Vietnam gives up bomb-grade uranium

Last update: September 16, 2007 - 5:36 PM

About 10 pounds of highly enriched uranium, the key ingredient for a nuclear bomb, was removed over the weekend from a research reactor in Vietnam, part of a U.S.-Russian program to keep such material out of the hands of terrorists.

The secret operation began Tuesday, when a U.S. team led by officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration arrived at the reactor in Da Lat, about 130 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam gave up 35 unused fuel rods containing the bomb-grade material in exchange for new fuel rods from Russia made with low-enriched uranium that would allow the reactor to continue operating.

The Vietnam mission was set in motion when President Bush signed a statement with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi in November, pledging to increase nonproliferation cooperation.

GATES: U.S. WATCHING N. KOREA AND SYRIA

The United States is keeping close watch on Syria and North Korea, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday, amid suspicions the Koreans are possibly helping Syria build a nuclear facility.

Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, said Friday that North Koreans were in Syria and that Syria may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.

When pressed for details on "Fox News Sunday," Gates said: "... All I will say is we are watching the North Koreans very carefully. We watch the Syrians very carefully." He added, "If such an activity were taking place, it would be a matter of great concern ..."

Syria's state-run newspaper and North Korean officials have denied the accusations.

11 MORE NATIONS JOIN U.S.-LED INITIATIVE

A U.S.-initiated project that aims to reduce the dangers of nuclear proliferation and control radioactive waste gained support Sunday, as 11 more nations signed on with original members Russia, China, France and Japan.

Under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a limited number of countries including the United States and Russia would provide uranium fuel to other nations for powering reactors to generate electricity, and then retrieve the fuel for reprocessing. This would deprive those nations of their own nuclear fuel enrichment programs, which can be used to make atomic weapons.

The dangers of uranium enrichment have come into sharp focus over the past four years because of the international standoff with Iran, which has defied a U.N. Security Council demand that it freeze development of the activity. The Iranian government says it seeks to use enrichment only for generating energy.

The 11 countries that signed for the first time Sunday were: Australia, Bulgaria, Ghana, Hungary, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine.

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