MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean quake almost aborts secret mission to ship enriched uranium to the US

The secret mission with high-hazard nuclear material faced unexpected challenges

Andrew Bieniawski, assistant deputy administrator of the United States National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had one thing in mind while lying in his hotel bed in Chile during the Feb. 27 earthquake: a secret mission.

For nine months, scientists and nuclear engineers in Chile had worked hard depositing and sealing in special containers of enriched uranium.

The plan was to transport the 40lbs of uranium to the San Antonio port Sunday, Feb. 28, where specially equipped ships would await to transport the nuclear waste for final disposal in the United States.

When the earthquake hit, plans changed.

Only minutes later, Bieniawski met with NNSA officials in the lobby of the hotel, spending the next four hours trying to contact the uranium storage facilities in La Reina and Lo Aguirre.

“They had to review everything again, in case there was some damage,” said Eduardo Cortes, an official in charge of the operation in the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission.

However, 12 hours before the quake, 1499lbs of the material was stored in security containers which would ensure it would not explode — and, it turned out, be safe during an earthquake.

After establishing the material was safe, the NNSA team was faced with transporting the material to San Antonio during the high risk of possible tsunamis.
But due to damages in San Antonio, the NNSA made a final detour to the Valparaiso port.

Two US ships waited to share the uranium, a precaution made so neither ship would carry enough of the material to make a bomb.

Another problem happened in the port when a crane carrying the material to the ships failed, leaving one of the eight containers dangling in the air, scaring officials briefly.

Finally, the shipment left Chile on March 4 and arrived in the US in mid-month to be converted into safe fuel.

The shipment of high-hazard nuclear material to more secure and specialized facilities is a part of the Obama administration’s nuclear non-proliferation strategy.

Highly enriched uranium (HEU) is stored in unsecured location around the world in huge amounts. Only 55lbs of uranium — the size of a grapefruit — is needed to obliterate an entire city.

This Monday, President Obama encouraged leaders from 47 countries to work with the US to secure and remove HEU from reactors globally, as an international nuclear summit gets underway. Chilean President Sebastian Piñera is already in the country and is expected to attend.

By Chastity Dillard – Santiago Times