Until this year, Pyongyang has denied U.S.accusations it possessed a covert HEU, or highly enriched uranium program, in violation of previous agreements.
VOA: standard.2009.09.06
Current law is aimed at phasing out U.S. exports of highlyenricheduranium(HEU) precisely to reduce the risk of the material being stolen or diverted by proliferating states for nuclear weapons production.
The HEU Agreements allow for the downblending of highlyenricheduranium derived from nuclear weapons to low enricheduranium for peaceful commercial purposes.
Press reports over the New Year state that Brazil is set to manufacture highly-enriched uranium(HEU) for its two nuclear power plants, and according to Samuel Faiad of the government-run Nuclear Industries of Brazil, to sell any HEU surplus on the world market.