LEU for Vietnamese research reactor

Low-enriched uranium (LEU) nuclear fuel has been delivered to Vietnam's Dalat research reactor, a 500 kWt pool-type reactor of Russian VVR-M design. The unit has been converted from using high-enriched uranium (HEU) at 36% uranium-235, to LEU at under 20%. This conversion was carried out under the Russian-American Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) program which seeks to increase global security by reducing the number of facilities using HEU, which at some enrichment levels could in theory be used in nuclear weapons. The fuel was manufactured by TVEL of Russia at Novosibirsk. The company has also supplied LEU to the VR-1 reactor operated by the Czech Technical University in Prague, and the reactor unit at Tajoura Nuclear Research Centre in Libya.