Japan to turn over sensitive nuclear stockpile to United States

[March 24, 2014]  THE HAGUE (Reuters) — Japan will turn over a stockpile of hundreds of kilograms of sensitive nuclear material to the United States to be downgraded and disposed of, the two countries' leaders said ahead of a nuclear security summit on Monday.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a joint statement that all highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium would be removed from the Fast Critical Assembly at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

Like uranium, plutonium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants and for research purposes, but can also provide material for nuclear bombs. A Fast Critical Assembly is used for neutronic studies related to so-called fast reactors.

China voiced concern earlier this year about Japan's holding of plutonium but the United States and the U.N. nuclear agency in Vienna have made clear they are not worried about the issue.

The announcement was made in The Hague shortly before leaders from 53 countries — including Obama and Abe — were due to hold a two-day summit aimed at preventing the risk of nuclear terrorism in the world. It will be the third such summit since 2010, when it was held in Washington at Obama's initiative.

"This effort involves the elimination of hundreds of kilograms of nuclear material, furthering our mutual goal of minimizing stocks of HEU and separated plutonium worldwide, which will help prevent unauthorized actors, criminals, or terrorists from acquiring such materials," said the joint statement released by the White House.

"This material, once securely transported to the United States, will be sent to a secure facility and fully converted into less sensitive forms."

The plutonium, the statement said, would be prepared for "final disposition".

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Fredrik Dahl; editing by Catherine Evans)

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