WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has announced that NNSA and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will continue cooperation to secure vulnerable nuclear and radiological material and reduce nuclear threats around the world.

Under an agreement signed with NNSA’s Office of Global Threat Reduction (GTRI), the U.K. Global Threat Reduction Programme will provide the U.S. $3.5 million to support efforts in Uzbekistan, Belarus and Afghanistan.

“We welcome the U.K.’s longstanding and generous partnership with NNSA’s nuclear nonproliferation programs,” said NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington. “This contribution underscores the cooperation between our two countries to strengthen global efforts to secure vulnerable nuclear material around the world, prevent nuclear smuggling and keep dangerous nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists and proliferators. Joint efforts like this allow our countries to combine resources and expand our progress toward strengthening nuclear security and countering the threat of nuclear proliferation.”

The U.K. contribution will support nuclear and radiological security work in Uzbekistan, radiological security upgrades in Belarus, and radiological security training programs for Afghanistan.

This is the third time that the U.K. has partnered with NNSA’s GTRI program, and the ninth time the U.K. has participated financially in NNSA’s nuclear nonproliferation programs.

To date, NNSA’s partnership with the U.K. has provided $13,220,100 to GTRI and more than $26 million to NNSA’s other nonproliferation efforts around the world.

“The U.K. values our cooperation with NNSA very highly and I am delighted that our long-running partnership on nuclear and radiological threat reduction will continue,” said Richard Hardiman, Head of U.K. Global Threat Reduction Programme.

Financial and in-kind contributions from our international partners help augment NNSA programs aimed at securing vulnerable nuclear materials around the world, securing and disposing of dangerous nuclear and radiological materials, and preventing nuclear smuggling. In addition to the U.K., NNSA has received support from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and the Republic of Korea to pursue nonproliferation efforts around the world, including:

• More than $31 million to shut down the last remaining weapons-grade plutonium production reactors in Russia.
• Nearly $30 million to reduce and protect vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials located at civilian nuclear sites worldwide.
• More than $11 million to strengthen NNSA’s Second Line of Defense program.

GTRI works to reduce and protect vulnerable nuclear and radiological material located at civilian sites worldwide.

GTRI achieves permanent threat reduction through converting research reactors and isotope production facilities from highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium, removing and disposing of excess nuclear and radiological materials, and by protecting high priority nuclear and radiological materials from theft and sabotage.