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A U.S. – Japan joint statement issued March 24 announced that Japan would return all the enriched uranium and plutonium totaling about 700 lbs to the United States which provided Japan these nuclear materials for research during the Cold War.

These nuclear materials have been stored at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency or JAEA. 199 kilograms of the materials are highly enriched [93 percent] Uranium and over 290 kilograms are fissionable plutonium. Both categories can be easily used for nuclear weapons. Read MORE

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However, the return of these materials to the U.S. does not seem to reflect Washington’s concern that Japan is going nuclear in an arms race as the likelihood of that in Japan is virtually non-existent, despite the Chinese government propaganda which would like the world to believe otherwise.

The move is a part of a worldwide drive led by the United States to tighten security over scattered nuclear materials that might fall into the hands of a terrorist group or a rogue state.

In fact, while all nuclear materials under U.S. control have been under maximum security watch, most countries that stored U.S. nuclear materials, such as Japan, have limited security measures to guard against the theft of these highly radioactive and deadly materials.

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