Ukraine Agreed to Get Rid of Uranium by 2010

Ukraine has agreed to eliminate its stockpile of weapons-grade nuclear material, the US said, at the Worlds Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

The White House said Ukraine would by 2012 get rid of enough highly enriched uranium to build "several weapons," reports BBC News.

Leaders from 47 countries are taking part in the summit, called by President Barack Obama.

Ukraine's move to get rid of its entire stockpile of highly enriched uranium by the time of the next nuclear security summit in 2012 was hailed as a "landmark decision" by the US.

"This is something that the United States has tried to make happen for more than 10 years," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. "The material is enough to construct several nuclear weapons."

US officials said Ukraine's highly-enriched uranium would be removed with some technical and financial help from the United States. Ukraine's agreement sets a precedent that Obama would like other countries to follow, experts say.

It is estimated there are about 1,600 tonnes of highly enriched uranium in the world — the type used in nuclear weapons. Experts agree that virtually all of it is held by the acknowledged nuclear-weapons states, most of it in Russia.

There are also about 500 tonnes of the other key ingredient of a nuclear weapon — plutonium. In total, that is enough to make 120,000 nuclear weapons.