A U.S.-led team successfully removed about 30 pounds of highly enriched uranium from Venezuela earlier this month in a secret mission, the U.S. State Department announced May 14.
“By leading the removal of dangerous nuclear material from Venezuela, the United States is safer and has strengthened nuclear security worldwide,” State Department spokesman Thomas Pigott said in a statement.
The enriched uranium was removed from Venezuela’s shuttered RV-1 research reactor, which was the country’s first and only nuclear reactor.
Venezuela built the reactor for scientific research and later repurposed it for gamma-ray sterilization of medical supplies, food, and other materials….