A 20-year-old program to convert highly enriched uranium from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into fuel for U.S. power plants ended on November 14, when the final shipment of uranium left St. Petersburg for Baltimore.
The agreement, commonly known as Megatons to Megawatts, was signed in 1993, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union amid concerns Russia's vast stockpiles of weapons-grade uranium could fall into the wrong hands.
Under the program, 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium, the equivalent of about 20,000 nuclear warheads, was converted into fuel for U.S. nuclear reactors.
Over much of the past two decades, the fuel has generated roughly half of all commercial nuclear energy produced in the United States, or nearly 10 percent of all U.S. electricity.
The agreement, commonly known as Megatons to Megawatts, was signed in 1993, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union amid concerns Russia's vast stockpiles of weapons-grade uranium could fall into the wrong hands.
Under the program, 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium, the equivalent of about 20,000 nuclear warheads, was converted into fuel for U.S. nuclear reactors.
Over much of the past two decades, the fuel has generated roughly half of all commercial nuclear energy produced in the United States, or nearly 10 percent of all U.S. electricity.
