The University of Missouri at Columbia has abandoned plans to double the capacity of its campus nuclear reactor, saying it will instead focus on converting to a safer fuel, the Associated Press reported.

The reactor now runs on weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium, a crucial ingredient in the making of nuclear bombs. If the fuel were ever stolen, it could be used in a nuclear weapon. To reduce the risk of theft, the Energy Department plans to convert the reactors at Missouri and seven other universities that still use highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium, which is less suitable for building nuclear bombs.

However, Missouri — along with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — will not be able to convert until 2010 or 2011 at the earliest because the department is still developing the fuel that would allow the reactor to continue operating without diminished performance.

The University of Missouri had planned to upgrade its reactor from 10 megawatts to 20 megawatts to increase its ability to produce cancer-fighting drugs and radioactive isotopes for use in medicine, according to the AP.