NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino appeared live last night to break the news with Rachel Maddow that all remaining weapons-usable material has been successfully removed from Mexico. | Photo courtesy of the NNSA.
What's the difference between HEU and LEU?
- Highly enriched uranium (HEU) has a greater than 20 percent concentration of Uranium-235 or -233.
- Low-enriched uranium (LEU) has a lower than 20 percent concentration of Uranium-235 or -233.
- Weapons-grade uranium usually contains at least 85 percent concentration of Uranium-235.
Editor's Note: This is a cross-post with the NNSA Blog.
Last night, the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC broke the news of NNSA’s latest achievement – removing all remaining weapons-usable material from Mexico.
Through a trilateral agreement, the US, Mexico and Canada worked to convert Mexican research reactors to use low enriched uranium, removed all remaining spent and fresh highly enriched uranium (HEU) and provided Mexico with low-enriched uranium (LEU) to continue reactor operations. This achievement is a key deliverable from the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. and a crucial step in achieving the President’s nuclear security agenda to “secure vulnerable nuclear material world wide” within four years.
NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino appeared live last night to break the news with Rachel Maddow. The full video can be found on the original NNSA blog post.
