The leaders of the United States and Japan have said that Japan will turn over hundreds of kilograms of sensitive atomic material to the United States that could be potentially used in bombs to be downgraded and disposed of.
China had voiced concern earlier this year about Japan’s holding of plutonium but Washington and the United Nations nuclear agency in Vienna have made it clear they are not worried about the way Tokyo is handling the issue.
Reuters Newsagency reports US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a joint statement that all highly enriched uranium (HEU) and separated plutonium would be removed from the Fast Critical Assembly at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.
Like uranium, plutonium is used to fuel nuclear power plants and for research purposes, but can also provide material for nuclear weapons.
Reuters reports a Fast Critical Assembly is used for studying the nuclear physics of so-called fast reactors.
“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 unauthorised 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 announcement was made in The Hague shortly before leaders from 53 countries, including President Obama and Mr Abe, were due to hold a two-day summit aimed at preventing al Qaeda-style militant groups from acquiring nuclear bombs.
Reuters reports it is the third such summit since 2010, when it was held in Washington at Obama’s initiative. Minimising civilian uses of HEU or plutonium is seen as vital in reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism.
The plutonium, the statement said, would be prepared for “final disposition” and the HEU would be “down blended” to low-enriched uranium for civilian purposes.
Last month, China said it was “extremely concerned” by a report that Japan has resisted returning to the US more than 300 kilograms of mostly weapons-grade plutonium.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency at the time said the US had pressed Japan to give back the nuclear material, which could be used to make up to 50 nuclear bombs.
Japan had baulked, but finally given in to US demands, Kyodo said.
The material was bought for research purposes during the 1960s.
Japan, the world’s only target of atomic bombs in the final stages of World War Two, does not have nuclear weapons and says it will not seek to obtain them.
