U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced today that it has completed removal of HEU fuel from the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences at the University of West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, which operates SLOWPOKE-II nuclear reactor. NNSA worked with Jamaica and Canada to convert the reactor to LEU fuel. According to the NNSA press release, the HEU core of the reactor is now "stored at the DOE Savannah River Site, pending final disposition." The core contains approximately 1 kg of HEU.

After the removal of HEU, Jamaica became the 28th country from which all HEU has been removed (HEU has been removed from Taiwan as well). Earlier this month NNSA announced successful removal of all HEU from Switzerland.