Project Sapphire

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.