Some 250 tonnes of highly enriched uranium, enough to produce 10,000 nuclear warheads, have been converted to low enrich uranium over the past 12 years, said a joint statement issued by the US and Russian governments.

Russia promised to convert weapons grade uranium under the 1993 Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) agreement, delivering low grade uranium for use as fuel in power reactors in the United States. With 250 tonnes still to be converted by 2013, the announcement marked the half-way point in the non-proliferation project.

"September 2005 marks a significant milestone in the implementation of the HEU Agreement," the statement said.

Under the agreement, sometimes referred to as the "megatonnes to megawatts" project, 30 metric tonnes of Russian HEU are converted each year into low enriched uranium for use as fuel in U.S. nuclear power plants, generating approximately 10 percent of U.S. electricity," the two governments said.

"The United States and the Russian Federation continue to support the HEU agreement and ... intend to ensure that the HEU agreement is implemented successfully and without any hindrances to achieving this goal."

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