Project Sapphire

Not to be confused with the Metropolitan Police Service's Project Sapphire—see also Sexual violence in the United Kingdom.

Project Sapphire was a successful 1994 covert operation of the United States government in cooperation with the Kazakhstan government to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation as part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. A warehouse at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant outside Ust-Kamenogorsk housed 1,322 pounds (600 kg) of weapons grade enriched uranium to fuel Alfa class submarines (90% U-235). Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the fuel was poorly documented and secured, and in danger of being sold for use in the construction of nuclear weapons.

See also

Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction—the source of the funds for Project Sapphire

References

Hoffman, David E. (September 21, 2009). "Half a Ton of Uranium -- and a Long Flight". The Washington Post. (Part of a series: "The Dead Hand". The Washington Post. )

Further reading

Hoffman, David E. (2009). "Chapter 21: Project Sapphire". The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy. New York: Doubleday. pp. 439–458. ISBN 0-385-52437-4. OCLC 320432478.
Carter, Ashton B.; William J. Perry (1999). "Chapter 2: Project Sapphire, the Nunn-Lugar Program, and Arms Control". Preventive Defense: A New Security Strategy for America. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. pp. 65–91. ISBN 0-8157-1307-X. OCLC 237337170.