Nuclear Security Summit: Ukraine Gives Up Uranium, as China Agrees to Sanction Iran

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2010— -- President Obama brought together leaders from 46 other nations today with one goal in mind -- keeping nuclear material out of the hands of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Even before the nuclear summit began, the White House was touting Obama's success in getting Ukraine to agree to dispose of its entire stock of highly-enriched uranium, said to be enough for several nuclear weapons.

"This was one of the priority items that President Obama had when he entered office, and there has been a lot of work that has been done over the past 15 months," White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said.

Obama said he hopes Ukraine's decision will encourage other countries to give up their nuclear material and punish those who don't.

Today, Obama met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and secured his agreement in principle for sanctions against Iran, with the goal of encouraging Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons program. China is the last of the five permanent members of U.N. Security Council to agree to sanctions against Iran.

More than 2,100 tons of highly enriched uranium and weapons-grade plutonium are currently scattered throughout the globe. At the summit today, Vice President Biden sought to illustrate the danger posed by that material.

"Just 50 pounds of high purity uranium, smaller than a soccer ball, could destroy the downtown of all our capital cities and kill tens, if not hundreds of thousands of individuals," Biden said.

The material can be disposed of in a variety of ways. In Ukraine's case, Russia will likely take the lead in securing its uranium. The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration also has its own threat reduction team to secure potentially dangerous material around the globe.

About six weeks ago, one such team was invited by the Chilean government to collect highly enriched uranium from two research reactors. The American team transported 40 pounds of weapons-grade material to the Charleston Naval Weapons Station, a location believed to be safe from terrorists and rogue nations.