Japan Turns Over Nuclear Material

At the Nuclear Security Summit Monday at The Hague, Japan and the U.S. jointly announced that Japan will give the U.S. control of a large cache of weapons-grade plutonium as well as highly enriched uranium. The stockpile would be large enough to build many nuclear weapons, officials said. The move is part of a push by President Obama to secure nuclear materials worldwide, and so far 132 countires have gotten rid of the caches of nuclear materials. According to the two countries, the move will “help prevent unauthorized actors, criminals, or terrorists from acquiring such materials. This material, once securely transported to the United States, will be sent to a secure facility and fully converted into less sensitive forms.” Countries like Iran have cited Japan’s stockpiles as a double standard in the way nations are treated on the issue of nuclear capabilities.