We interrupt this scandal to ask a question that, due to it's 'explosive' nature was never asked when the story broke almost exactly a year ago... What were 500 tons of yellow cake uranium still doing at the nuclear research center of Al—Tuwaitha in Iraq when American tanks rolled into Bagdhad? [Exc/American Thinker]
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 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 1 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." Parrot:..At this point....its to be concluded that somebody's arse is getting covered,
Wilson and Plame are known feeds*...
Therefore.....who will nibble at the Fish?
Just how did France,Russia ....North Korea react to this?
500 Tons....How many Plane loads is that?
If by Ship....whom? : )
Does China get a pass by saying it only Supplied Saddam with Fiber optic repeater stations for his SAM grid?
This article is new, don't miss the pictures -under blue header STORY RESOURCES on the right is a photo essay. You know, it just screams hypocrisy on the part of the UN/IAEA team in crying when they were locked out after the invasion, how they needed to get in there to keep WMD out of terrorists' hands.
Tackling Tuwaitha´s Radioactive Ruins
IAEA Asked to Help Clean Iraq "Hot" Spots
Staff Report
24 April 2006
Tuwaitha
The Iraqi Government has requested the IAEA's assistance to prepare plans and programmes to decommission contaminated facilities in the country.
Some 1000 Iraqi men, women and children in a village near the former Tuwaitha nuclear site are living inside an area contaminated by radioactive residues and ruins. A project to clean-up the site, and other contaminated facilities in Iraq, was kick-started earlier this year at IAEA headquarters.
Inhabitants of the Ishtar village, based within the Tuwaitha site boundary, some 20 kilometres south of Baghdad, are living in an area where levels of radiation are known to be higher than normal and prolonged exposure could prove risky over time. US authorities have supplied the IAEA with photographs of the Tuwaitha reactor that show crumbling facades and interiors of rubble, spray-painted with warnings like "radioactive" and "HOT". (See Photo Essay).
Once at the heart of Iraq´s nuclear programme, the Tuwaitha complex was inspected and largely dismantled during IAEA-led weapons inspections in the 1990s and subsequently bombed in the 2003 war. It is one of a number of sites in the country identified as needing decommissioning or remediation where radioactive material was used or waste are buried.
The Iraqi Government has requested the IAEA´s assistance to prepare plans and programmes to decommission contaminated facilities in the country. The project´s groundwork was set at an IAEA meeting in Vienna in February 2006, attended by the Iraqi Minister for Science and Technology, representatives from sixteen countries, including the US, and the European Commission.
"This is a huge task, one that could take many years," says Mr. Dennis Reisenweaver, the IAEA safety expert in charge of the effort. Among the first steps is to identify, cordon off, and prioritise contaminated areas that pose the most risk to the public.
Some of the challenges facing the clean-up effort include determining now unknown locations where contaminated equipment and materials might be buried, and recovering lost records about the contents of radioactive materials stored in waste containers.
"Given the magnitude of the task ahead, the project needs to be carried out through a combined effort between Iraq organizations and the IAEA´s Member States," Mr. Reisenweaver says.
Background: The Tuwaitha facility was looted in 2003, making media headlines in April shortly after the war broke out, when barrels containing low-level uranium ore concentrate known as "yellowcake" were stolen. The barrels were emptied and sold to local people who used them for storing water or food, or to wash clothes. Under its nuclear safeguards agreement with Iraq, the IAEA inspected the site, reporting its findings in July 2003. The report noted that the missing material posed no proliferation concern and that efforts were required to recover the dispersed material.
Initial efforts by Iraqi and US teams to collect environmental and radiological data have already started, as have studies on the health effects for people living in Ishtar village. During the project´s first phase, it is expected the IAEA will assist with training, equipment and analysis of data to prioritise sites and facilities that need to be decommissioned first on radiation safety grounds.
The IAEA also is assisting Iraq in several areas related to radiation safety and waste management. They include regional technical cooperation projects to upgrade capabilities for controlling radiation sources and responding to radiation emergencies.
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2006/tuwaitha.html#
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And then there's sweet Mr. Blix:
Iraq repeatedly clashed with previous UN envoys, but Mr Blix avoided this.
He brought his famous qualities of calm to bear when confronting Baghdad and conveying the message that it must do something to demonstrate it is telling the truth about its weapons programmes or face war.
Mr Blix appeared to walk a middle ground during the Iraq crisis.
Initially he was keen to show his independence from Washington, even refusing to hide his frustration with the Bush administration over key intelligence he wanted it to share.
Now that the war has finished, he has made clear his feeling that the US and UK had exaggerated, or "over-interpreted" - as he put it - the case for war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2268819.stm
To obscure its complicity in supplying Iraq with prohibited weapons and weapons-related material, and to keep the Oil For Food gravy train running on time.
Russian generals in Baghdad but not to drink coffee.
Planes and trucks to the beautiful Bekaa Valley.
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CIA Statement on Recently Acquired Iraqi Centrifuge Equipment