NNSA secures enriched uranium from Venezuelan reactor in six weeks
Venezuela maintains trade relations with the USA
Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan reports live from Caracas discussing Venezuela’s economic reopening and renewed trade ties with the United States. These include an increase in oil exports, which reached a seven-year high of 1.23 million barrels per day. The move comes after American Airlines resumed direct flights to Miami following the US capture of Nicolas Maduro. Experts evaluate the political and economic consequences for both countries.
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The United States and its partners have completed the removal of all remaining enriched uranium from an old research reactor in Venezuela, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced Friday.
“For decades, the RV-1 reactor supported physics and nuclear research. When this work ended in 1991, uranium enriched above the critical 20 percent threshold became residual material,” NNSA said.
The administration said NNSA’s Defense Office of Nonproliferation (DNN) team and technical experts from the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research “safely removed 13.5 kilograms (about 30 pounds) of uranium from the RV-1 reactor.” “We work in close cooperation with the IAEA” [International Atomic Energy Agency] “The team safely packaged the uranium into a spent fuel drum.”
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Enriched uranium removed from reactor in Venezuela (National Nuclear Security Administration)
The material was transported to the United States, where it was later processed and reused, NNSA said.
“The group then escorted the material 100 miles overland to a Venezuelan port. There, they transferred the cargo to a dedicated carrier provided by UK Nuclear Transport Solutions,” the announcement said. “The ship transported the material to the U.S., arriving on U.S. shores in early May. Upon arrival, U.S. crews unloaded the barrels and transported them to the Savannah River Region (SRS) for processing and reuse.”
SRS is located in the state of South Carolina near Augusta, Ga.
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The United States facilitated the removal of enriched uranium from a reactor in Venezuela. (National Nuclear Security Administration)
“DOE’s Office of Environmental Management has placed the material under surveillance at SRS. There, technicians will process the material at the H-Canyon chemical separation facility to obtain highly analyzed, low-enriched uranium for America’s nuclear renaissance,” NNSA said.
The move comes months after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in early January.
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U.S. President Donald Trump stands during a military mothers celebration in the East Room of the White House on May 6, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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“The safe removal of all enriched uranium from Venezuela sends another signal to the world for a restored and renewed Venezuela,” NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams said in a statement. he said. “Thanks to President Trump’s determined leadership, special teams on the ground completed a job in months that would normally take years.”
