Georgia take strong stance on nuclear non-proliferation

Georgia marks another achievement in global nuclear non-proliferation efforts by removing 1.83 kilograms of high enriched uranium (HEU).

On December 22 a shipment of HEU from the Breeder-1 Neutron Source at Tbilisi State University was securely delivered to a secure storage facility in the Russian Federation.

Removing HEU from the Breeder-1 [facility] is one of Georgia’s recent contributions to international efforts to minimise the civilian use of HEU,” said Christophe Xerri, director of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology Division at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

It is also an example of how the IAEA can help Member States achieve their non-proliferation and nuclear security objectives,” Xerri added.

Together with specialists, Georgia’s Environment Minister Gigla Agulashvili attended the HEU removal operation. He explained Georgia requested assistance from the IAEA for the HEU removal operation in June 2015.

The IAEA subsequently contracted Rosatom subsidiary ‘LUCH’ in Russia and the Tbilisi State University’s Andronikashvili Institute of Physics in Georgia to oversee and carry out the removal.

Successful accomplishment of this shipment operation was due to the effective cooperation of all parties,” said Maia Bitadze, Deputy Environment Minister.

The officials explained HEU could be a nuclear proliferation and security concern because it could be used for producing materials used in nuclear weapons.