Russia Takes Back Uranium From Romania

[dArKeR]

Russia took back control of 30 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from an insecure Soviet-era nuclear reactor facility in Romania today, carrying out a long-planned secret operation that was paid for by the United States in a preemptive strike against the threat of nuclear terrorism.

The uranium -- potentially enough to make a nuclear bomb -- was taken from its storage site at the Pitesti Institute for Nuclear Research, west of Bucharest, Romania's capital, and flown tonight to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, where it will be converted into a form of uranium that cannot be used to make weapons, according to U.S. officials.

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, whose department provided the $400,000 necessary for the operation, called it "a major accomplishment" for eliminating a terrorist threat posed by "one of the top sites that needs securing." During an interview on a visit to Moscow, he also welcomed the mission as an indicator of newly cooperative relations with Russia, which built dozens of research reactors in allied countries during the Cold War but had been reluctant to accept responsibility for such Soviet-era nuclear material.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43901-2003Sep21.html

Are we fools? Nobody in the world is going to spend their money to protect, track, safe guard any of their dangerous materials because the US will step in pay for the protection and/or disposal.