Overview
- The IAEA confirmed that 13.5 kilograms of enriched uranium left Venezuela and arrived at a U.S. Department of Energy site in South Carolina in early May.
- The fuel came from a research reactor at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research that shut down in 1991, and the agency says no fuel remains at the site.
- The uranium was enriched to about 20% U‑235, a level used in research reactors that is below weapons grade yet still sensitive because it is radioactive and tightly controlled.
- A military-guarded convoy moved the material to Puerto Cabello, where a U.K. ship carried it to the United States under international safeguards.
- Officials cast the transfer as a non‑proliferation step tied to warming ties, with Venezuela citing a January U.S. operation that raised security concerns and the U.S. Embassy calling the removal a shared victory under President Trump after relations were restored in March.