Japan agrees to ship nuclear materials to U.S.

Japan and the United States have co-signed an agreement to remove and dispose of over 300 kilograms of weapons grade plutonium and an unspecified amount of highly enriched uranium.

According to a statement released by the White House, the fissile material will be transported from the Fast Critical Assembly at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to a “secure facility” in the U.S., and will be “fully converted into less sensitive forms”.

Barack Obama announced his aim to seek “the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons” in Prague in 2009. He has been pressing his foreign counterparts, both in Asia and Europe, demanding they either get rid of their excess nuclear materials via the U.S., or tighten security on stockpiles at home. Belgium and Italy have also agreed to hand over excess nuclear material.

Read more: wikinews.org