Secret uranium shipment sees nuclear material return to Russia

A shipment of enriched uranium large enough to make six nuclear weapons recently made its way from Hungary to a facility in Russia, Associated Press reported last week.

The shipment of nuclear material is part of a joint effort by the United States and Russia to recover spent fuel rods around the world that are considered vulnerable to security breaches. Kenneth Baker, a U.S. official with the National Nuclear Security Administration who oversaw the complex project, said it involved the transport of 341 pounds of weapons-grade uranium.

The materials made "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 report said.

There was no information on which carriers or logistics companies were used as the shipment was considered secret. Baker told AP that the circuitous route needed to be used because the uranium couldn't be routed through the Ukraine for security reasons.