PHYSICIST: SADDAM'S URANIUM STOCKPILE ENOUGH TO YIELD 142 NUKES

Newsmax ^ | 8/9/04

[areafiftyone]

Five-hundred tons of yellowcake uranium ore stored at Saddam Hussein's al Tuwaitha nuclear weapons research laboratory near Baghdad could have been enriched to produce 142 nuclear weapons, a prominent British physicist has determined.

Addressing the claim by British intelligence last year that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger, Norman Dombey, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Sussex, argued, "Iraq already had far more uranium than it needed for any conceivable nuclear weapons programme."

In an op-ed piece for the London's Evening Standard, Professor Dombey explained that standard yellowcake ore consists of 99 percent Uranium 238 [U238], "which is radioactive but is not used in normal nuclear weapons as it cannot sustain a chain reaction."

To cause a nuclear chain reaction, he noted, "you need U235, which only makes up less than one percent [0.7] of natural uranium."

After doing the calculations, Professor Dombey explained, "You have a warehouse containing 500 tons of natural uranium; you need 25 kilograms of U235 to build one weapon. How many nuclear weapons can you build?

"The answer is 142."

Though most reporters continue to insist that Iraq had abandoned its nuclear weapons program after the first Gulf War, chief U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer told Congress earlier this year that the Iraqi scientists were "preserving and expanding [their] knowledge to design and develop nuclear weapons."

One laboratory at al Tuwaitha "was intentionally focused on research applicable for nuclear weapons development," the top weapons inspector revealed.

Iraq war critics have argued that Saddam's uranium stockpile was safe because it was subject to once-a-year inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

But the IAEA was also in charge of monitoring North Korea's nuclear program right up until 2002, when Pyongyang announced it would begin producing nuclear weapons.

[goodnesswins]

I "clicked".....cool pictures.....I'm reading Michener's ALASKA right now.

[OXENinFLA]

Mmmmmmm Yellow cake

[oceanview]

correct, its at Oak Ridge.

The stuff from Libya is at Oak Ridge too. They were supposedly trying to match the signature of the material from the two locations - basically to link the Libya program with Iraq.

But at this point, our side has allowed the Dems to seize the "no WMD" premise so hard and fast in the minds of most americans - that I don't even think a revelation like that will mean much. Its too hard to understand, and the sheeple are idiots.

[Our man in washington]

So let me get this straight...

We knew Hussein had this site with enough yellowcake to produce 142 weapons, but instead of shipping the stuff out of the country we said "Fine, we're leaving it there, but we're coming back once a year to make sure you don't touch it!"

I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying it sounds like a really stupid decision. Hussein could have waited until he had the means to build a bomb and then raided the place and built a few weapons very quickly.

[Larry Lucido]

Mmmm. Yellow cake.

[Larry Lucido]

Rats! Foiled again!

[txhurl]

RF, didn't you have some interesting info that Newsmax intends to publish later about Libya, Iraq and a hollowed-out mountainside?

[sc2_ct]

So where are these 500 tons of yellowcake now?

------------

In my basement. Now I just need some berylium and we can start the new world order off in ernest LOL.

[TomServo]

Would you like a donut with that mode? ;-)

Better make it a few dozen. :-)

[new cruelty]

142 nuclear weapons... feh... hardly what one could consider mass destruction. Move along.

[ravingnutter]

It ought to be noted that the yellowcake stockpile was sealed at the end of the first gulf war and was being monitored by the IAEA up until the invasion last year. Had Saddam tried to access the stockpile before our invasion we would have known about it.

Awwww...geez, another opportunity to use my favorite quote:

"That would be the same IAEA that did such a bang-up job keeping tabs on North Korea's nuclear program for the last ten years, right up until 2002 when Pyongyang announced - 'Surprise, we have eight nuclear bombs.'" Carl Limbacher - Newsmax

[GopherIt]

And I am curious: the amount of conventional weapons stockpiled post Desert Storm, in KT, is the equivalent of how many Hiroshima units?

[mcg1969]

According to the story it was subject to a once-a-year inspection. What if they decided to mess with it between those inspections? Given our apparent lack of humint in Iraq, would we have ever known?

[ex-Texan]

*BUMP*!

[Dilbert56]

"Yup, we inspect it every year." Yes, the genius of the "international community" shines through once again.

One of the CIA analysts who evaluated the Niger-yellowcake story commented that Saddam didn't need Niger's ore, he had 500+ tons already. At least that analyst understood that once-a-year inspections were not keeping the stockpile secure.

[reformedliberal]

NewsMax has leaked that the September report by Dufleur (sp...head of ISD/Weapons Hunters) will include that Saddam had an active nuclear bomb program financed by Oil For Food money.

Also in September, Qaddafi is set to come clean about the Axis of evil Islamic Bomb program. Uranium from Iran (IIRC); scientists from Iraq; missiles from Syria and North Korea all housed in a hollowed-out mountain lab in Libya. This info was from a government source, IIRC.

The Donks and EUros will say: it wasn't imminent.

I think there is going to be more on WMD from the ISD report, personally. I know Dufleur(sp) was a skeptic and I watched him have to report the 1st sarin IED, then another dozen chem weapons and finally 37 and counting chem shells. Each time, he looked unhappier, if that is possible. He is a dour guy.

[mcg1969]

Furthermore, IF the IAEA protections on that yellowcake were reasonably solid, then that would help us understand why they might be interested in going to Niger for more even though they already had enough for 142 nukes.

So it seems to me that, either way, this is a story.

[Robert A Cook PE]

He's a little optimistic on the conversion and recovery rates of pure machined, ready-to-blow-up U235 from raw U238 there.

But, you can make a bunch of weapons from the U238 that Saddamn wasn't collecting and hadn't stored illegally can't you?

[ravingnutter]

RF, didn't you have some interesting info that Newsmax intends to publish later about Libya, Iraq and a hollowed-out mountainside?

Not sure what info RF has, but I still have this on file...

Libya Expected To Announce in September Report That Iraqi WMD DID Exist And Were Developed THERE

[techcor]

And Iraq was being allowed to develop laser isotope separation techniques .