Google News Results 1 - 10 of about 445 for yellowcake.
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50430
Defense Personnel Transport Uranium Ore Out of Iraq
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 7, 2008 – Defense personnel have completed the transfer of 550 metric tons of Iraqi uranium ore to Canada, Defense officials said here today.
The Iraqi government asked the United States to help transfer the yellowcake — as the ore is known — from Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center near Baghdad to its buyer in Canada, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today.
The military dubbed the movement Operation McCall, and it ended July 5. DoD’s portion of the operation involved the transfer of the ore.
Yellowcake is a uranium ore that can be processed to become nuclear fuel. State and Energy Department personnel also participated in the transfer.
Officials transferred the uranium by convoy from Tuwaitha nuclear research facility to a secure location in Baghdad’s International Zone, Whitman said. The ore was in 110 shipping containers. The shipping containers were placed aboard Air Force C-17 Globemaster III airlifters and taken to an intermediate location. It took 37 sorties to transfer the yellowcake.
At the intermediate location — which Whitman could not name — the ore was loaded aboard the SS Gopher State, a Military Sealift Command ship, which took it to Montreal.
“This was material that was discovered when we initially went in to Tuwaitha,” Whitman said. “It was under the control of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency since that time.”
Whitman stressed that yellowcake is not of direct use in a nuclear weapon. “It is a commodity that is traded routinely in the global nuclear energy sector,” he said. “It can be used as a feed material for nuclear weapons if a country has access to the necessary fuel technology.”
The cost of the transfer was $70 million, and the government of Iraq will reimburse the United States for a portion of the cost, Whitman said.
According to the AP article, yellowcake goes for $120/lb. According to this article, there were 1,200,000lbs. The value of the yellow cake then is $144million. Saddam could have sold the yellowcake for $144million, but he did not. Apparently, he had no use for the yellowcake, no intentions for its future use, and he had no use for 144 million dollars. This strains my credulity.
Article.CNN.com: Iraqi Government - "500 TONS OF URANIUM SHIPPED FROM IRAQ, PENTAGON SAYS" (SNIPPET: "The U.S. military spent $70 million ensuring the safe transportation of 550 metric tons of the uranium from Iraq to Canada, said Pentagon spokesman Brian Whitman. The shipment, which until recently was kept secret...") (July 7, 2008)
USA TODAY.com (AP): UNITED NATIONS - "U.S. TRANSFERRED URANIUM FROM IRAQ WITHOUT U.N. AUTHORIZATION" (SNIPPET: "According to the letter, the United States informed the IAEA on June 30 that approximately 1.8 tons of uranium, enriched to a level of 2.6%, another 6.6 pounds of low-enriched uranium, and approximately 1,000 highly radioactive sources had been transferred on June 23.") (Posted July 7, 2004, 7:34 pm)