Russia, Libya in uranium deal

2005-12-23 19:42

Moscow - Russia has delivered low-enriched uranium fuel to Libya in exchange for weapons-grade nuclear fuel that was removed from the North African country in 2004 under a US-financed programme, said the country's atomic energy agency on Friday.

The shipment of 14kg went to the Tajura research centre outside Tripoli, said the agency on its website.

Almost 90 nuclear fuel assemblies - bundles of rods that contain fuel used for reactors - which were supplied to Tajura two decades ago by the former Soviet Union were returned in March 2004 to Russia.

Potential threat

"The programme of switching the research reactors to low-enriched fuel is aimed at decreasing a potential threat of the use of radioactive materials for terrorist purposes," said the agency said.

The $700 000 fuel return operation was funded by the US Department of Energy under a three-way programme with Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, to address nuclear safety and proliferation risks.

Weapons programme

The Tajura facility includes a 10-megawatt reactor built in 1980 with equipment from the Soviet Union. The Russian atomic agency said the research reactor in Tajura would start operating with low-enriched nuclear fuel in early 2006.

Libya, after long negotiations with the United States and Britain, a few years ago acknowledged having a nuclear weapons programme and pledged to scrap it.

- SAPA