Pete Domenici: “I wish today to bring attention to the progress being made by the National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, on the…”

“I wish today to bring attention to the progress being made by the National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, on the front of global nuclear non-proliferation. Yesterday the NNSA announced that 176 pounds of highly enriched uranium, HEU, had been secured from the Nuclear Research Institute in Rez, Czech Republic and safely returned to Russia. With the cooperation of several countries, this nuclear fuel has been secured and returned to its country of origin, reducing the risk of it falling into the wrong hands. Nuclear nonproliferation programs such as the NNSA's Global Threat Reduction Initiative, GTRI, are some of the most important tools we have to curb the threat of nuclear material being acquired by those who wish to do us harm. With the addition of this most recent shipment, the GTRI program has returned over 1300 pounds of HEU to Russia from civilian sites worldwide. I applaud the work being done through the GTRI, and I look forward to the day when we no longer have to be concerned with the possibility of an illicit acquisition of nuclear fuel.”