Posted on 05/30/2008 6:04:34 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
Several Texas Tech researchers and graduate students will leave for Ukraine on Sunday to begin their collaboration and training programs with the Iraqi government.
Earlier this year, scientists at the Center of Environmental Radiation Studies received $948,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of State and $363,500 from the United Kingdom to train Iraqis on how to dismantle nuclear facilities in a manner consistent with international standards.
Ron Chesser, director for the Center of Environmental Radiation Studies, said the goal of this program is to assist the Iraqi government in several different ways.
"They want to get back into international graces," he said. "They want to fulfill all of the demands that led them to the sanctions against Iraq. They want to get all that behind them, and dismantlement of the nuclear facilities is one of those major steps."
Chesser said $510,000 of the grant from the U.S. Department of State will train Iraqis to gain sufficient experience in dismantling in order to begin disassembling bombs by July 1.
Also from the State Department, $438,000 will assist Iraq by creating a radiation workers safety program to protect the workers during dismantlement procedures.
The $363,500 from the United Kingdom will help train former Iraqi scientists on project management during this dismantlement process.
The Tech researchers' job is to help Iraqis conduct science. From there, the experiments will point out where deficiencies are and where regulations and new programs are needed.
The researchers act as a stimulus, as Chesser said they will help point out complications in the Iraqis procedures.
"We're not really advising the Iraqi government," he said. "Most of it is really following in the wake of performing science and letting them realize where the deficiencies are."
Carl Phillips, professor of biology, said that through this program, they are implementing U.S. policy.
The U.S. government wants the Iraqi government to become functional and rejoin the national community since they were ostracized in the early 1990s, which Phillips said is a reason why the researchers are there.
"I think ultimately, the role Ron and I have is through this project, to try to make those things happen," Phillips said. "We try to guide the Iraqi government so it becomes functional. We try to help Iraqis to gain their international credibility as part of the world community."
Phillips said they try to work directly with the Iraqis and give them guidelines and ideas.
This project is mainly about science diplomacy, as Phillips said it involves American scientists from university settings helping to achieve diplomatic goals.
"Another thing that helps us a lot is that we're academic based and we're not traditional diplomats," he said. "We can work outside of the typical diplomatic channels."
Working for Tech gives researchers a huge amount of flexibility, and the program links back to the university, which Phillips said creates an educational experience.
Eric Howell, a second-year graduate student from Moscow, Idaho, said this is a great program because it allows American researchers to educate the Iraqi scientists to remediate contamination, while involving students in the process.
"It's really neat that not only we get this experience," Howell said, "we get to learn how to understand the diplomacy that goes with this sort of science."
Brenda Rodgers, assistant professor in biology, said she will be heading a health testing program, starting in the first week of June. The process trains Iraqi scientists how to get informed consent from the volunteers, sampling, and analyzing those samples in the lab.
Rodgers said some challenges they face in this project are language barriers, cultural differences, and the fear of people being exposed to radiation.
"This is a new government," she said. "The people aren't necessarily sure what to expect or interpret things. So our goal is to help the government gain credibility."
Very interesting article. Thanks for posting it.
TTU and Hub Ping
What nuclear facilities will they be dismantling? Very curious expenditure of money I would think.
I thought that the Israeli air force was the acknowledged expert in dismantling nuclear installations.
Earlier this year, scientists at the Center of Environmental Radiation Studies received $948,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of State and $363,500 from the United Kingdom to train Iraqis on how to dismantle nuclear facilities in a manner consistent with international standards.WTF, over. WHAT BOMBS??? Is this a case where an innocuous story pierces the veil of secrecy? It starts out like they are going to be taking down Saddam's old research facilities. OK, understandable. Could be like the Iranian ones that heh heh heh stopped work way back when. So we start by teaching them how to dismantle bombs??? A radiation safety concern??? BOMBS???Ron Chesser, director for the Center of Environmental Radiation Studies, said the goal of this program is to assist the Iraqi government in several different ways.
"They want to get back into international graces," he said. "They want to fulfill all of the demands that led them to the sanctions against Iraq. They want to get all that behind them, and dismantlement of the nuclear facilities is one of those major steps."
Chesser said $510,000 of the grant from the U.S. Department of State will train Iraqis to gain sufficient experience in dismantling in order to begin disassembling bombs by July 1.
Also from the State Department, $438,000 will assist Iraq by creating a radiation workers safety program to protect the workers during dismantlement procedures.
Holy crap. Who's bombs? Iraq's? Iran's? Russia's?
Damn good questions,...unless...maybe ...they plan to go to the east a ways ...
Pingaroo.
So where is the contamination?
Have we found a WMD site and had just kept quiet upto this point?
And by July 1??? This just doesn’t compute in a major way. Even if the real story involves dirty bombs - nuke waste wrapped around conventional explosives, intended to act as a terror weapon, not the ultimate destructor - this is huge news if it means Saddam had them. (Tough break for Scotty if true). This has my spidey sense ramped up to the max.
Nothing to see here. Move along, please....
Why would we be training Iraqis to "dismantle nuclear devices" if there were none to dismantle?
U.S. Presses U.N. on MORE Syrian Nuke Facilities
Search Is Urged for Syrian Nuclear Sites
*******************************EXCERPT******************
U.S. Presses U.N. on 3 Alleged Facilities
By Joby Warrick and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 29, 2008; A14
The Bush administration is pressing U.N. inspectors to broaden their search for possible secret nuclear facilities in Syria, hinting that Damascus's nuclear program might be bigger than the single alleged reactor destroyed by Israeli warplanes last year.
At least three sites have been identified by U.S. officials and passed along to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is negotiating with Syria for permission to conduct inspections in the country, according to U.S. government officials and Western diplomats. U.S. officials want to know if the suspect sites may have been support facilities for the alleged Al Kibar reactor destroyed in an Israeli air raid Sept. 6, the sources said.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, which has been seeking access to the Al Kibar site since shortly after the bombing, has acknowledged receiving requests to expand the scope of its inspections, but provided no details.
U.S. government officials declined to describe the specific sites that have drawn interest, or to discuss how they were identified. However, the United States and other Western governments have long been interested in identifying possible locations for a facility in Syria that might have supplied nuclear fuel rods for a Syrian reactor. Although the Al Kibar site was described as nearly operational at the time of the Sept. 6 bombing, it had no clear source of the uranium fuel necessary for operation, according to U.S. intelligence officials and diplomats familiar with the site.
Syria, which has denied having a nuclear weapons program, has not yet responded to IAEA requests for a firm date for inspections.
U.S. intelligence officials contend that the Al Kibar facility was built with North Korean assistance, to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in an interview that the intelligence community's insight into Syria's nuclear ambitions has deepened since the Israeli raid.
This seems like a major security leak. I know about loose lips and all that but hell, if Saddam did have WMD then for crying out loud, why would the administration let us fester for years in the swamp of "Bush lied"? It just doesn't make sense.
OK, there is commentary at the TT Web site that perhaps clears this up, at least partially. Probably the bombs are conventional unexploded munitions from when we shot the crap out of Saddam’s infrastructure and, when the building was a nuclear research facility, the area became contaminated. Step one in the clean up would be to safe the unexploded ordinance and that has to be accomplished in place in a radiation-contaminated environment. Nevermind.
Occam’s razor at work...
No comments. Insufficient data to go on.
Nah, this is just a weird coinky-dinky.
Thanks Ernest.
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