U.S. Takes Over Uranium Cache From Kazakhs

The United States has brought more than half a ton of highly enriched uranium to this country from Kazakhstan that otherwise might have found its way to Third World countries for use in nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The move, which is expected to be announced today, was the result of months of negotiations between Clinton Administration officials and Kazakh leaders, who have pledged to adhere to international standards in dealing with leftover nuclear stockpiles of the former Soviet Union.

A senior Administration official described the operation as “a huge success story” for U.S. efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Officials said the uranium, which was flown to the United States in huge military C-5A cargo planes, will be reprocessed into commercial-grade material and used to help fuel nuclear power plants here and in other countries. The final shipment from Kazakhstan arrived earlier this week.

U.S. officials said the weapons-grade material could have been used to manufacture up to 20 nuclear bombs. They said it was poorly protected and could have easily been smuggled or sold on the black market.

Officials said it was the largest cache of uranium from a former Soviet Bloc country that has been brought to the United States in this fashion.

Defense Secretary William J. Perry, Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary are scheduled to disclose details of the operation today.

American intelligence agencies confirmed last year that Iran had sent purchasing agents to Kazakhstan in an effort to buy weapons-grade uranium for the Iranian nuclear weapons program, but U.S. officials said at the time that they did not believe Iran was able to buy any.

Earlier this year, Kazakhstan’s leaders approached the Administration about how to dispose of the material. The uranium was contained in a huge cache at Ust-Kamenogorsk, in a remote section of the country.

In October, a 24-member team that included representatives of the Pentagon, the State Department and the Energy Department traveled to Kazakhstan to supervise the inventorying and packaging of the uranium. The transportation of the material to the United States began shortly after that.

The Administration has been working for months to help safeguard the nuclear stockpile of the former Soviet Union--the actual weapons and the materials needed to manufacture them--in the wake of the breakup of the Soviet Empire.

Early this year, the White House announced agreement on a tripartite treaty among the United States, Russia and Ukraine on the dismantling of former Soviet warheads then being kept in Ukraine. Since that time, Ukraine has sent about 600 warheads to Russia for dismantling.

Officials said the negotiations with Kazakhstan--kept secret until this week--were carried on by the same interagency team that shepherded the tripartite accord. Monies for the effort are being provided under a program designed to help former Soviet republics dispose of their weapons.

U.S. officials said the effort to persuade Kazakhstan to ship its uranium to the United States for reprocessing took on added urgency earlier this year when economic hardship there led to civil unrest and ultimately to a breakdown of law and order.

U.S. analysts had feared that, in an effort to obtain more cash, Kazakhstan’s nuclear weapons teams might seek to sell weapons or uranium to Third World governments such as Iran or Iraq, which want to become nuclear powers.

The operation was given the code-name “Sapphire,” Washington officials said Tuesday.

Kazakhstan has signed an agreement pledging to adhere to international safeguards for nuclear materials and has agreed to accept inspections by the Geneva-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the organization that sets rules for nuclear energy around the globe.

As a Soviet republic, Kazakhstan was the site of dozens of nuclear weapons, processing centers and uranium stockpiles. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the weapons remained in the new country.

The uranium, which officials said Tuesday totals about 600 kilograms, will be reprocessed at the U.S. Energy Department nuclear facility at Oak Ridge, Tenn.

There was no immediate indication how long it will take to complete the process.