First of three parts The United States and the former Soviet
republic of Kazakhstan have completed moving some 100 tons of
highly radioactive material from a Caspian Sea port in the
country's west to a safe storage site in northeastern
Kazakhstan. The shipments included enough dangerous nuclear
material for nearly 800 nuclear weapons. Years in the planning,
the project took a year to move the material by rail and road
1,500 miles across the country. The last of the shipments was
delivered Monday. In 1973, a nuclear reactor began operations in
the small Soviet city of Shevchenko on the Caspian Sea. This
nuclear plant produced steam heat and electricity for the people
of the region, as well as fresh water for them to drink. It also
produced another very important product, notes Richard Hoagland,
the U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan. "It also provided the
plutonium for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons that
potentially could have been used against the West," Hoagland
says. Kazakhstan Turns To U.S. For Help The plu