Japan’s plutonium shipment arrives in US

OSAKA: Two ships loaded with plutonium and highly enriched uranium from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s Fast Critical Assembly reactor arrived Tuesday at the US Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina.

The British-flagged Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron were carrying 331 kilogram (kg) of weapon-usable plutonium. About 236 kg, used for nuclear-reactor testing in Japan, originated in the United Kingdom, while around 93 kg is of US origin and 3 kg is of French origin, according to Savannah River Site Watch, a nongovernmental organization tracking the shipment.