1999, 2000 Iraqi memos: Procurement of 50000 Aluminum Tubes That Can Be Used For URANIUM ENRICHMENT.

Pentagon/FMSO website for Iraq Pre-war documents ^ | April 24 2006 | jveritas

[jveritas]

This document CMPC-2004-004404 contains memos dated from 1999 and 2000 about Saddam regime procurements of 81 mm in Diameter, 900 mm in Lenght HIGH STRENGTH AND HIGH QUALITY ALUMINUM TUBES. As many of you know the issue of 81 mm High Strength, High Quality Aluminum Tubes were subject for an intensive debate since 2002 because this type of tubes can be used in GAS CENTRIFUGES FOR URANIUM ENRICHMENT. Although the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) said in its final report in 2004 the following about the procurement of these tubes “ Baghdad’s interest in high-strength, high-specification aluminum tubes—dual-use items controlled under Annex 3 of the Ongoing Monitoring and Verification Plan as possible centrifuge rotors—is best explained by its efforts to produce 81-mm rockets”. However the ISG could not prove definitively that these very special tubes were not used as part of Saddam Regime attempt to build its Nuclear Programs and Projects (see link to ISG report http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/chap4.html#sect6). In fact the ISG in its report says also the following “ The limited information found by ISG that ties Iraqi nuclear entities to the tubes also appears related to the 81-mm rocket program and the ISG report also says ” Purported high-level interest in aluminum tubes by Saddam and Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister—a potential indicator of a program of national importance, such as a centrifuge program.. A 6 March 2003 letter from the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate (NMD) to the IAEA’s Iraq Nuclear Verification Office (INVO) notes that the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) conducted material composition testing on a sample aluminum tube in early 2001 and In another translated memo “http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1620262/posts ” that talks about a secret project by the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission to re-instate the “Nuclear Reactor Simulators” using equipments from the “Old TAMUZ (OZIRAQ) Nuclear Reactor”. All this is a clear indication of Saddam intent to restart the Nuclear Programs.

I will translate the first two pages of this 11 pages document. The first two pages are the Quotation Bid regarding these Special Aluminum Tubes by a company called AL Bashair addressed to Al Rasheed General Company which is a division of the Iraqi Military Manufacturing Commission. Page 3 of the document has the Technical Specification written in English of these Aluminum tubes, Diameter, Length, Specification, Chemical Composition, Price, Manufacturing origin etc,,

Beginning of the Partial Translation of document CMPC-2004-004404

In the Name of God the Most Merciful The Most Compassionate

Al-Bashair Trading Co. LTD

Date: 2/11/1999

To: Al Rasheed General Company

Subject: Proposal

Following up to our two letters numbered T 2484 and T 2504 on 30/10 and 1/11/1999 consecutively and attached with it proposals numner/3 related to your invitation numbered (75/3/13) included is our forth proposal related to it:

Please study with the other proposals sent to by our letter above and inform us..

With Regards

Signature…

Mounir Mamdooh Awed

Acting Director

4/11/1999

Best Salute

Indicating to your overture addressed to us regarding the bid numbered (725/99) we are pleased to offer our proposal included and are shown its details of the Technical Specifications, Prices, and the required quantity by you.

Knowing that the cost of a single tube delivered to your respected company warehouses is estimated (105 dollar) one hundred and five American Dollars,

Please take in consideration the following issues:

1. The Manufacturing Origin of the tubes German/European.

2. The equipping will be achieved within a period of 8 months from the date to deposit the amount in our interest and in the order of partial shipments divided during the equipping period above, where the first shipment begins within four months from the period of equipping indicated above.

3. The quantity of tubes required for equipping is 50,000 Tubes.

We hope that our proposal will receive your approval… with the continuous corporation with you to serve the general interest… with regards

Attachments. Schedule of Technical Specifications with prices.

TUBE ALUMUNIUM ALLOY

1. SPECIFICATION: AL-ZN-MG-CU 215/ NO. 7075

2. DIMENSION OF TUBE:

Outside Diameter = 81.0 mm

Inside Diameter = 74.4 mm

Thickness = 3.3 mm

Length = 900 mm.

3. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

NB ALL TUBES ARE SUBJECTED TO CHEMICAL COATNG IONADIZATION PROCESS TO PREVENT AND SUSTAIN SCRATCHES AND CORROSIONS.

4. PRICE: FOR EACH TUBE = USD 105

5. MANUFACTURING OF ORIGIN: GERMANY OR E.E.C

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Very good, bet the liberals try that argument though.....( that it is just for rockets....)

[jveritas]

My translations of this document was not to say that it is for sure to be used for Nuclear Enrichment, but it is just the possibility that it can be used for this purposes. The ISG group did not 100% concluded that it will be used for rockets.

Second, what do you expect me to do when I find a document like this one? Not translated because it is still a very debatable point?

[jveritas]

Thank you very much mware. Trust me I will not get down by criticism, it is what we do on this forum, we debate :)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See rightwhale's comment at post #79....if not rocket tubes for what were they procured?

That is the question....

[Marine_Uncle]

"Do you need that high qulaity for anything other than centrigfuges?"
I am no expert. But surely one would not want rocket tubes to weaken due to corrosion any more then one would want corrosion to occure in parts for gas centrifuges.
Plus in the case of using them for rockets. One would not want an outer surface pitted and coated with any corrosion from effecting the inner surface of the rocket launching tubes.
I could see in either case the need for tubes with a very clean surface. I believe, but am not 100% certain, UF (uranium hexa fluoride) may be corrosive. If so, it would be quite important to protecting the underlining aluminum which may be quite subject to corrosion from this gas. Quite frankly. I am not sure just what part of a gas centrifuge the tubes would be used in. I think the where not intended to acutally pass the gas, but in part of the balancing system. If so, then they may not be required to be ionadized.
Just a very un-educated thought. For "interpiping", I would assume they would use some grade of stainless steel.
Perhaps someone will step in with a better explaination.

[blaster88]

It really is that simple.

Really, it is simpler than that. The tubes are controlled by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (an adjunct of IAEA) because they are suitable for use in centrifuges. High tensile strength aluminum tubes of 75mm or greater. It doesn't even matter whether they were meant to be rocket tubes or not, it was not legal for Iraq to buy them - doubly illegal under the sanctions regime.

The "well, they really only wanted them for conventional rockets to blow up Kurds" explanation may hearten some people, but it doesn't make me feel any better. If it was all hunky-dory, it wouldn't have been covert. Even Colin Powell got it:

He is so determined that has made repeated covert attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries, even after inspections resumed. These tubes are controlled by the Nuclear Suppliers Group precisely because they can be used as centrifuges for enriching uranium.

By now, just about everyone has heard of these tubes and we all know that there are differences of opinion. There is controversy about what these tubes are for. Most U.S. experts think they are intended to serve as rotors in centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Other experts, and the Iraqis themselves, argue that they are really to produce the rocket bodies for a conventional weapon, a multiple rocket launcher.

Let me tell you what is not controversial about these tubes. First, all the experts who have analyzed the tubes in our possession agree that they can be adapted for centrifuge use.

Second, Iraq had no business buying them for any purpose. They are banned for Iraq. I am no expert on centrifuge tubes, but this is an old army trooper. I can tell you a couple things.

First, it strikes me as quite odd that these tubes are manufactured to a tolerance that far exceeds U.S. requirements for comparable rockets. Maybe Iraqis just manufacture their conventional weapons to a higher standard than we do, but I don't think so.

Second, we actually have examined tubes from several different batches that were seized clandestinely before they reached Baghdad. What we notice in these different batches is a progression to higher and higher levels of specification, including in the latest batch an anodized coating on extremely smooth inner and outer surfaces.

Why would they continue refining the specifications? Why would they continuing refining the specification, go to all that trouble for something that, if it was a rocket, would soon be blown into shrapnel when it went off?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Plus in the case of using them for rockets.

What is the melting point for aluminum, I think it is much lower than steel....?

From :

Thermal Properties and temperatures

********************************

Aluminium 13 Al

Melting point [/K]: 933.47 [or 660.32 °C (1220.58 °F)]

[blaster88]

From NSG Guidelines (PDF): 5.1. Gas centrifuges and assemblies and components especially designed or prepared for use in gas centrifuges

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The gas centrifuge normally consists of a thin-walled cylinder(s) of between 75 mm (3 in) and 400 mm (16 in) diameter contained in a vacuum environment and spun at high peripheral speed of the order of 300 m/s or more with its central axis vertical. In order to achieve high speed the materials of construction for the rotating components have to be of a high strength to density ratio and the rotor assembly, and hence its individual components, have to be manufactured to very close tolerances in order to minimize the unbalance. In contrast to other centrifuges, the gas centrifuge for uranium enrichment is characterized by having within the rotor chamber a rotating disc-shaped baffle(s) and a stationary tube arrangement for feeding and extracting the UF6 gas and featuring at least 3 separate channels, of which 2 are connected to scoops extending from the rotor axis towards the periphery of the rotor chamber. Also contained within the vacuum environment are a number of critical items which do not rotate and which although they are especially designed are not difficult to fabricate nor are they fabricated out of unique materials. A centrifuge facility however requires a large number of these components, so that quantities can provide an important indication of end use.

[expatpat]

I'm sorry, Joseph, I don't see anything in your two pages that indicates that they are for enrichment and not rockets. Am I missing something?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

On Iron

Iron 26 Fe

Thermal Properties and temperatures

Melting point [/K]: 1811 [or 1538 °C (2800 °F)]

[Shelayne]

Great work, as usual! Thanks for all your hard work!

I found this about the tubes (emphasis mine):

"There was absolutely no mistake about the intended use of these aluminum tubes," the senior administration official tells Insight. "The CIA is adamant on this." U.S. technicians had been able to test them and found they could spin at very high rates of revolutions per minute -- a requirement not for artillery rockets but for enrichment centrifuges. "These are not artillery rockets or water pipes, as some have said. Those cost 60 cents per foot. These tubes cost $50 per foot, so the argument is silly."

Powell revealed that the United States had detected no fewer than 11 attempts by Iraq covertly to acquire these special tubes. The most recent, in December, occurred even after Iraq accepted U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 -- the 16th in a string of U.N. resolutions accepted by Iraq that require it totally to abandon its weapons of mass destruction. "Let me tell you what is not controversial about these tubes," Powell told the United Nations. "First, all the experts who have analyzed the tubes in our possession agree that they can be adapted for centrifuge use. Second, Iraq had no business buying them for any purpose. They are banned for Iraq." http://www.kentimmerman.com/news/insight_iraq2003_02_18.htm

[Spunky]

Thanks so much for the link to this article Calpernia.

jveritas, Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! for translating the documents.

Zeppo, I think this is the answer to your question.

From Article"One hopes these experts did not do the public a disservice. After all, the New York Times story also said: "The diameter, thickness and other technical specifications of the aluminum tubes had persuaded American intelligence experts that they were meant for Iraq's nuclear program." It seems a strong indicator. "

A Little More ON the Aluminum Tubes

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

What's the melting point of steel?

***********************************************

| Return to the Question and Answer Archive Index Page |

What's the melting point of steel?

That depends on the alloy of steel you are talking about. The term alloy is almost always used incorrectly these days, especially amongst bicyclists. They use the term to mean aluminum. What the term alloy really means is a mixture of metals, any kind of metals. Almost all metal used today is a mixture and therefore an alloy.

Most steel has other metals added to tune its properties, like strength, corrosion resistance, or ease of fabrication. Steel is just the element iron that has been processed to control the amount of carbon. Iron, out of the ground, melts at around 1510 degrees C (2750°F). Steel often melts at around 1370 degrees C (2500°F).

Author:

Brian Kross, Chief Detector Engineer

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Start about at post 79 ....!

[Marine_Uncle]

"Second, what do you expect me to do when I find a document like this one? Not translated because it is still a very debatable point?"
If you feel up to it translate it. I in no way criticize your judgement in deciding what ones should be translated. You are providing a valuable service in building an english version database up for us all to use in the present and future to prove much of the original Intel was close or on the mark.
If my wording in some way appeared critical of your efforts please do accept my full apology. My last comment was to attempt an answer concerning the number of tubes if they where to be used as rockets, in that perhaps it really was not an un-realistic number. Then threw in a few points we all could dismiss, accept, or stay neutral on.
I continue to salute your efforts. Believe me.

[jveritas]

Great find thank you very much.

[XJarhead]

Maybe this is a language issue, but your interpretation here is not quite accurate.

No direct information but I doubt very much that they were going to be used to manufacture 50,000 81 mm Howitzer, not ammunition for Howitzer but the Howitzer launcher itself. Do you know about any army who possesses 50,000 81 mm Howitzer Launchers?

There is no such thing as an 81 mm "Howitzer launcher". A "howitzer" is a piece of tube/cannon artillery into which you load projectiles and fire them. Basically, its a cannon.

Nobody has claimed that there were intended to be parts for a cannon. They are claimed to be rocket parts, and have nothing to do with howitzers. The difference is enormous, because a rocket, by definition, is a disposable munition. A howitzer is a reusable (obviously) delivery system.

Using the term "rocket" and "howitzer" together is nonsensical, unless you're talking about a very specific type of artillery round that includes a built-in rocket assist. But even then, you're talking about a munition, not a delivery system.

[ChadGore]

Bush was right.

[Marine_Uncle]

Very good points. Well taken. Quite frankly my mind is no more. I have read so much of this stuff and do not do a good job of retention anymore. Thanks. Hope all will take to heart your statements.

[jveritas]

They will never mention in procurment papers what is the intent of these highly specialized Aluminum tubes!