The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is this week considering new legislation to ease restrictions on highly enriched uranium exports, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Jan. 3).

The proposal would eliminate a 1992 requirement that medical isotope manufacturers agree to reduce their use of highly enriched uranium, and instead begin using low-enriched uranium, in order to continue to receive U.S. uranium shipments.  The proposal was added to a draft energy bill by Representative Richard Burr (R-N.C.), according to Edwin Lyman, president of the Nuclear Control Institute, a nuclear advocacy group. 

The nuclear medical industry has long fought against the 1992 requirement, saying it jeopardizes the supply of important medical isotopes, according to AP.  Lyman, however, opposes rescinding the restriction, saying such a move “needlessly undermines an important nonproliferation law and increases the risk of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons” (H. Josef Herbert, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, April 2). 

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