Canisters And Type Of Ship Used To Transport Nuclear Material From The U.K. The ships involved are 104-metre, 5100 tonne, specially designed double-hulled vessels used only for the transport of nuclear material. The ships belonging to a British-based company Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL), have been approved for the transport of vitrified residues, and conform to all relevant international safety standards, notably one known as INF-3 (Irradiated Nuclear Fuel class 3) set by the International Maritime Organisation. This allows them to carry highly radioactive materials such as high-level wastes, used nuclear fuel, mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, and plutonium. Image form World-Nuclear.org
Official Describes Secret Uranium Shipment -- Las Vegas Sun/AP
Enough processed uranium to make six nuclear weapons was secretly transported thousands of miles by truck, rail and ship on a monthlong trip from a research reactor in Budapest, Hungary, to a facility in Russia so it could be more closely protected against theft, U.S. officials revealed Wednesday.
The shipment, conducted under tight secrecy and security, included a three-week trip by cargo ship through the Mediterranean, up the English Channel and the North Sea to Russia's Arctic seaport of Murmansk, the only port Russia allows for handling nuclear material.
The 13 radiation-proof casks, each weighing 17,000 pounds, arrived by rail at the secure nuclear material facility at Mayak in Siberia on Wednesday, carrying 341 pounds of weapons usable uranium, said Kenneth Baker, a National Nuclear Security Administration official who oversaw the complex project.
It is the largest recovery to date of highly enriched uranium provided either by the former Soviet Union or the United States under a program, begun in the 1950s, aimed at spreading the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The two countries have been working to return the spent fuel from reactors around the world because at many of the facilities, including the one in Budapest, security is lax, raising the possibility of the material being stolen by terrorists.
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My Comment: Scary stuff .... moved in the dead of night .... literally.