This month in Y-12 history: April 2010—Y-12 assists with Project Golden Llama
Y-12’s expertise in handling uranium was called upon in 2010 for Project Golden Llama. The project took highly enriched uranium from Chile, which was the fifth country to remove all of its HEU after an international call for countries to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years.
During shipment preparations, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake occurred off the Chilean coast causing widespread damage to surrounding areas. Contingency plans were made, and the shipment made its way to Oak Ridge with minimal delay.