In the spring of 2026, a secret international operation involving Venezuela, the United States, Britain and the International Atomic Energy Agency resulted in the removal of the last stocks of highly enriched uranium from the territory of the South American country. Although the quantity was relatively small, the operation attracted the attention of the international community because of Caracas' geopolitical alliances and concerns that sensitive nuclear materials could fall into the wrong hands. This is what the BBC's Angel Bermudez writes.
In late April, a Venezuelan army convoy secretly traveled 160 kilometers from the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) on the outskirts of Caracas to the port city of Puerto Cabello in Carabobo state.
The reason for this secrecy became clear a few days later. The military escorted a container with approximately 13 kilograms of highly enriched uranium destined for the United States. The operation involved the governments of the United States, Venezuela and the United Kingdom, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which in a statement on May 8 described it as a "carefully planned joint mission conducted under strict security measures". The agency noted that such nuclear material could pose a proliferation risk or security threat if it fell into the wrong hands. Uranium is considered highly enriched when the proportion of the uranium-235 isotope has been artificially increased to 20 percent or more. The material was loaded at the port of Puerto Cabello and secretly shipped to the United States. The quantity of 13 kilograms is relatively small compared to estimates of Iran's stockpiles before war with the United States and Israel. According to various estimates, Tehran had about 400 kilograms of such material.
However, the Venezuelan government's ties with Iran, Russia, Cuba and North Korea have been a concern in Washington for years. According to experts interviewed by BBC Verify, the International Atomic Energy Agency also had concerns about this issue.
Jack Crawford of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) explained to the BBC that the operation to extract the uranium was aimed at preventing materials originally intended for a peaceful nuclear program from falling into the hands of countries or groups seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
According to Crawford, the seized materials were enriched to just over 20 percent uranium-235, while highly enriched uranium is usually considered weapon-grade at a concentration of 90 percent or more. Theoretically, however, this uranium could still be sufficient for further processing to create a small nuclear bomb.
So how did Venezuela obtain highly enriched uranium and why did it hand it over to the United States?
The IAEA and "Atoms for Peace"
It all began with a speech by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in 1953. This was the height of the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in an arms race and there were concerns that more and more countries and groups might acquire nuclear weapons.
So Eisenhower proposed the creation of an international body to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and to promote the peaceful uses of atomic energy in areas such as medicine and agriculture.
"It is not enough simply to take these weapons away from the military. They must be handed over to those who can disarm them and adapt them to serve peaceful purposes," he declared.
The idea was that countries capable of producing nuclear materials would hand them over to an international agency under the auspices of the United Nations. It, in turn, must guarantee their security and make them available to scientists and researchers for peaceful purposes.
Venezuela received its experimental nuclear reactor under the "Atoms for Peace" program initiated by the Eisenhower administration.
Eisenhower's speech laid the foundation for the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency and led to the creation of the American "Atoms for Peace" initiative.
In the following years, the United States changed its legislation to allow the export of nuclear technology, materials, and expertise to countries that pledged not to use them for weapons.
Under this scheme, Venezuela acquired the 3-megawatt RV-1 nuclear reactor, built by the American company General Electric. According to the IAEA, its nuclear fuel was supplied by the United States and the United Kingdom.
The reactor was put into operation on 22 November 1960. It was installed as a research reactor at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research. It was partially shut down in 1991 and, according to Venezuelan authorities, was permanently decommissioned in 1997. Some of the spent fuel has been removed, while the rest is stored in a highly secure location.
What happened to the uranium after that?
According to the British government, Venezuelan authorities first requested the removal of the remaining uranium in 2017 and plans began to be drawn up at that time.
However, the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January 2026 has apparently accelerated the operation.
Venezuelan authorities claim that US air strikes during the president's arrest narrowly avoided damaging the reactor.
A statement issued on May 7 by Foreign Minister Ivan Gil said the operation "objectively increased the level of risk and confirmed the urgency" of the operation. of the uranium removal.
The US State Department said the operation took "several months", which is two years faster than originally planned.
The uranium was transported to the Savannah River Site, a nuclear facility in the US state of South Carolina, near the city of Aiken. British nuclear experts were responsible for the transport.
The cargo ship "Pacific Egret" was used for the operation.
On April 11, when the ship stopped transmitting its location, it was docked in Charleston, South Carolina. Using high-resolution satellite imagery, the BBC determined that the ship docked in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, a week later.
In images taken on May 4, an escort ship follows the "Pacific Egret" on its way to the United States. Images taken on May 8 show a "Pacific Egret" after its arrival at the port of Charleston.
"This was a carefully coordinated operation, with strict safety measures being observed at all times," said Britain's Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
The IAEA's symbol - spinning electrons surrounded by two olive branches - represents the pursuit of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Most research reactors built in the 1960s and 1970s required the use of highly enriched uranium, but similar research can now be conducted with low-enriched uranium, which contains less than 20 percent uranium-235.
According to the IAEA, more than 100 research reactors and medical isotope production facilities around the world have either been shut down or converted to use low-enriched instead of highly enriched uranium. Nearly 7,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium have been returned to their countries of origin or otherwise secured.