Score one for President Barack Obama’s nuclear summit. The White House announced Monday that Ukraine will give up its entire stockpile of highly enriched uranium by 2012 and convert its research reactors to stop producing the stuff.

No word yet on where Ukraine plans to send its nuclear material, but The Washington Post says the U.S. could be the lucky recipient.

Ukraine had the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world after the fall of the Soviet Union, but gave up its weapons during the 1990s.

Although Ukraine was the home of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the 1986 disaster that it spawned, Ukrainians are just wild about nuclear power. The country is home to Europe’s largest nuclear reactor and has plans to double its nuclear power production by 2030. — PZS

Sources: Washington Post, BBC, Wikipedia, White House

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#barack obama#chernobyl#nuclear#nuclear arms#soviet union#summit#terrorism#ukraine#uranium#white house