Warheads-for-fuel U.S.-Russian program completed

PanARMENIAN.Net - The last shipment of Russian uranium from nuclear warheads converted to reactor fuel arrived in Baltimore by sea on Tuesday, Dec 10 ending a program that has provided 10 percent of all U.S. electricity over the past 15 years, according to RIA Novosti.

Since 1993, Russia has turned about 500 tons of weapons-grade uranium – the equivalent of 19,000 warheads – into low-enriched reactor fuel.

The uranium was then sold to U.S. commercial nuclear plants under the so-called Megatons to Megawatts Program.

The Russian supplies have produced 7 trillion kilowatts of energy in the United States since the first shipments arrived in 1998.

Russia earned $17 billion under the program.

In March 2011, Russian state-owned uranium producer and trader Techsnabexport signed a $2.8 billion deal with the U.S. Enrichment Corporation to supply it with low-enriched uranium for 10 years starting in 2013.