Uranium's Journey from Romanian Mountain to Soviet Warheads and American Electricity

In the 1950s, a mountain in Romania's Western Carpathians vanished as its uranium-rich rocks were transported by train to Sillamäe, then part of the Soviet Union and now in Estonia. These rocks were processed into nuclear fuel, some of which eventually became nuclear warheads. After the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, these weapons were dismantled. The Megatons to Megawatts agreement, initiated in 1995 between the United States and Russia, has since transformed nuclear arms into electricity, supplying American homes with energy sourced from Soviet warheads. This project explores uranium's duality as both a crucial energy source and a weapon, connecting various geographies and historical contexts. The findings are published in ARTMargins Volume 14, Issue 2, pages 113-128, with a DOI of 10.1162/artm_a_00416, by MIT Press on June 25, 2025, authored by Anca Benera and Arnold Estefán.