Soviet uranium removed from Bulgaria

The last of the Soviet highly enriched uranium was removed from Bulgaria Thursday and transported to a secured site in Russia:

The removal of the uranium, stored in Bulgaria since the 1970s, is part of an initiative to deter nuclear proliferation by terrorist groups and other militants whose stated goals include detonating a dirty bomb constructed with nuclear material.

"The complete removal of all highly enriched uranium from Bulgaria is another milestone in NNSA's cooperative effort to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation and prevent nuclear terrorism," Thomas D'Agostino, NNSA administrator, said in a statement.

Bulgaria is the second country to return all Soviet-origin highly enriched uranium to secure sites. Through National Nuclear Security Administration’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative. the United States worked in close cooperation with the Russian Federation, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and the International Atomic Energy Agency to pack, secure and ship the material.