IRAQI PHYSICIST: 500-TON URANIUM STOCKPILE NOT FOR NUKES

Newsmax ^ | 8/12/04

[areafiftyone]

The physicist who ran Iraq's nuclear weapons program for 25 years before the U.S. liberation claimed on Wednesday that Saddam Hussein gave up his nuclear ambitions in 1991 - even though the Iraqi dictator maintained a 500-ton stockpile of uranium and kept his nuclear research team intact right up until March 2003.

In his first-ever broadcast interview, Jaffar Dhia Jaffar told the BBC that Saddam's al Tuwaitha nuclear weapons research facility was heavily damaged in the first Gulf War.

"Everything was destroyed, such that the program couldn't be restarted at the time at all, and it never restarted," he claimed.

"And Iraq did not have, would not have had the resources under [U.N.] sanctions to continue. ... We had orders to hand over the equipment to the Republican Guards, to the special Republican Guards, and they had orders to destroy the equipment that we handed over to them."

He also claimed that there was also no request to do more research.

Of the 500-ton stockpile of yellowcake uranium ore stored at al Tuwaitha, Jafar said only that the nuclear material had been purchased from Niger in the 1980s. And he made no mention of the 1.8 tons of low enriched uranium flown out of the facility by the U.S. Energy Department in June.

Jafar also failed to address findings by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which concluded last month:

"Iraq was procuring dual use equipment that had potential nuclear applications."

The Senate's investigation found that, "Iraq had kept its cadre of nuclear weapons personnel trained and in positions that could keep their skills intact for eventual use in a reconstituted nuclear program."

The Iraqi physicist declined to challenge the testimony of top U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, who told Congress in March that Iraq had been "preserving and expanding its knowledge to design and develop nuclear weapons" throughout the 1990s.

One al Tuwaitha laboratory, Duelfer said, "was intentionally focused on research applicable for nuclear weapons development."

Duelfer's contentions were bolstered by satellite photos published in the Washington Post in 2002 that showed new construction at the sprawling 23,000-acre facility.

U.N. weapons inspectors who had interviewed Jafar before the U.S. attacked Iraq described him as evasive about Saddam's nuclear program, saying his refusal to come clean fueled suspicions that Iraq had continued its nuclear research.

[Numbers Guy]

"It wasn't for nukes, it was for Saddam's Uranium Club for Children! Children who had perfect attendance and good grades got their own chunk of uranium personally presented by Saddam. It was the perfect gift for the growing child!!!"

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

It was the perfect gift for the growing child!!!

Glowing child.

[igoramus987]

Of the 500-ton stockpile of yellowcake uranium ore stored at al Tuwaitha, Jafar said only that the nuclear material had been purchased from Niger in the 1980s. And he made no mention of the 1.8 tons of low enriched uranium flown out of the facility by the U.S. Energy Department in June.

Can you make a dirty bomb out of yellowcake uranium ore or low enriched uranium?

[cinFLA]

Can you make a dirty bomb out of yellowcake uranium ore or low enriched uranium?

The 'traditional' dirty bomb is made from the radioactive isotopes resulting from a previous fission or nuclear reaction.

[Rebelbase]

In other news, 100% of Iraq has been declared fertile farmland.

[dennisw]

Can you make a dirty bomb out of yellowcake uranium ore or low enriched uranium?....


NO. Not radioactive enough

[Sender]

Hmmm. Yellowcake ore from Niger. Now where have I heard that before?

[Mikey_1962]

No.. not for nukes.. for that uranium powered instant hot water maker.. for like instant coffee and cup o' soup. Just put on this lead apron first.

[been_lurking]

IRAQI PHYSICIST: 500-TON URANIUM STOCKPILE NOT FOR NUKES

Not anymore it isn't. We saw to that.

[kidd]

"...We had orders to hand over the equipment to the Republican Guards, to the special Republican Guards, and they had orders to destroy the equipment that we handed over to them...

Sure they did. They also had orders to not fire at US planes that were patrolling their airspace from 1992-2002.

[Logical me]

All this jacka$$ had to do was allow full UN inspections without his monitoring. He defied all attempts for the UN to detect all WMD. How could anyone with any brain at all not be suspicious. And this was not the only problem. He was supporting terrorist. How about that training camp in the Northeast of Iraq that had a plane for training. Come on, only a moron could have come to the conclusion that he was just a choir boy.

[Mr. Thorne]

And it started new things growing....

Like that third arm, the extra eye...

[perfect stranger]

"Jafar said only that the nuclear material had been purchased from Niger in the 1980s."

Paging Joe Wilson.

[piasa]

He forgot about the uranium purchased elsewhere. Among the other countries which supplied it was Brazil. As it happens, Brazil recently refused to go along with inspections it had once agreed to...

[oceanview]

the equipment was sent to Libya - that's how their program started - located inside a mountain, where it couldn't be touched by conventional bombing.

[piasa]

NOVEMBER 1, 1995 : (REPORT : IRAQI NUCLEAR SCIENTIST JAFFAR AND ASSOCIATES ARRIVE IN LIBYA TO INSTALL A NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT KILN) According to the Jerusalem Post, Iraqi nuclear scientist Ja'afar Dhia Ja'afar arrived in Libya to lead a group of experts and engineers from Iraqi military industries in installing a small nuclear enrichment kiln in the area of Sidi Abu Zarik, approximately 380 kilometers south of Tripoli. The Iraq-Libya cooperation allegedly began with a secret visit by Ra'ad Id Aldafi, from Libyan military industries, to Baghdad on August 30, 1995. The Jerusalem Post goes on to say that contracts for Iraqi scientists to work in Libya were passed off as contracts for these scientists to lecture in Libyan universities and institutions. Unnamed experts suggest that Iraqi nuclear fuel could reach Libya by sea within weeks, and that Iraqi experts in Libya could begin enriching it after installing more small or medium-sized kilns. —Tom O'Dwyer, "Libya Helps Iraq Dodge Weapons Supervision," The Jerusalem Post, 1 November 1995.

[Southack]

"Can you make a dirty bomb out of yellowcake uranium ore or low enriched uranium?"

It wouldn't pack much punch. Yellowcake is rather similar in emitting radiation as depleted Uranium...which we use for the armor of our M1 Abrams tanks that our troops ride around in (as well as for some of our tank munitions).

Here's what's going on: Yellowcake is the result of the first level of chemical processing of raw Uranium ore. Statistically, raw Uranium ore tends to be 99.3% U238 and 0.7% U235.

U235 is the good stuff. So to make a powerful dirty bomb or to have the fissionable material for a real nuke, you need lots and lots of U235 (public estimates hit as high as needing over 200 pounds of U235 to get a super-critical mass required for a Boom).

There are two basic ways (and other) of obtaining either U235 or Plutonium: separating the natrual 0.7% of U235 from raw uranium ore, or by bombarding U238 with neutrons (typified with so-called "breeder" reactors).

So what you want to watch out for are nations/groups who are purchasing highly refined aluminum tubes and centrifuges (useful for separation) along with certain chemicals useful for refining and processing uranium, or that are building breeder reactors.

But those breeder reactors and those centrifuges require initial raw materials...in particular, they require things such as yellowcake.

Once you've got raw Uranium refined into yellowcake, then you either separate it or directly enrich it via neutron bombardment.

After separation or bombardment, and once you've processed a lot of yellowcake, then you've got enough fissionable metal for either an atomic bomb or a very pricey dirty bomb.

OK, so what's the math say about 500 tons of yellowcake?

500 tons = 2000 pounds * 500 = 1 million pounds of yellowcake.

1 mil * 0.7% = 7000 pounds of U235.

7000 / 200 pounds per bomb = 35 possible nukes if the entire stockpile of yellowcake was separated (or 5,000 nukes if enriched via a breeder reactor).

5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[Sender]

You see, the uranium was needed for nuclear power since Iraq has no oil or other energy sources.

[cinFLA]

U235 is the good stuff. So to make a powerful dirty bomb or to have the fissionable fissile material for a real nuke, you need lots and lots of U235 (public estimates hit as high as needing over 200 pounds of U235 to get a super-critical mass required for a Boom).