US announces removal of last batch of Vietnam's weapons-grade uranium

July 2, 2013 at 10:05AM

VIENNA — The United States says experts have removed the last batch of uranium from Vietnam that terrorists could have used in efforts to make a nuclear bomb.

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says the highly enriched uranium, from the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute, has gone to Russia where it will be turned into low-enriched reactor fuel.

Moniz did not say when the removal occurred. He also did not specify amounts Tuesday.

But other officials at an International Atomic Energy Agency conference on nuclear security said two batches had been removed totaling 16 kilograms (about 35 pounds), with the first shipment taken out six years ago.

That's more than half of what is needed for a crude nuclear weapon.

The U.S. and Russia have taken the lead in many such operations worldwide.

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