15kg Uranium Seized In Turkey-SMUGGLING for Islam!!(my title)

WNN | 09-28-02 | Reuters-ICK!

[GRRRRR]

ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkish paramilitary police have seized more than 15 kg (33 lbs) of weapons-grade uranium.

Two men were detained and accused of smuggling the material, the state-run Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.

Officers in the southern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 250 km (155 miles) from the Iraqi border, acted on a tip-off.

They stopped a taxi cab and discovered the uranium in a lead container hidden beneath the vehicle's seat, the agency said.

The incident happens at a time of mounting speculation the United States could launch a military attack on neighbouring Iraq for its alleged programme of weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. President George Bush has accused Baghdad of clandestine efforts to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for an operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Officials at Ankara's Atomic Energy Institute would not confirm they had been notified about the material, which Anatolia had reported.

"Our investigation on whether the uranium was destined for a neighbouring country is continuing," a Sanliurfa police official was quoted as saying by Anatolian.

Police officials in Sanliurfa and Ankara declined to comment on the case.

Authorities believe the uranium came from an east European country and has a value of about $5 million, Anatolian said.

It was not immediately clear when the operation was carried out. Anatolian only gave the first names of the suspects, which appeared to be Turkish.

Smugglers use Turkey's porous eastern border to import drugs, and hundreds of thousands of migrants each year illegally cross the rugged frontier on their way to more affluent European Union nations.

Police in Istanbul seized more than one kg (2.2 lbs) of weapons-grade uranium last November that had been smuggled into Turkey from an east European nation.

The smugglers were detained after attempting to sell the material to undercover police officers.

[FreeLibertarian]

Weapons grade, mind you !!!

How much do they already have?

Depends on what they mean by weapons grade, if it has already been enriched then it is indeed serious but if it hasn't its nothing new. We already knew Saddam was working on acquiring the required components. If it is enriched it would have allowed him to skip several difficult steps but he would still be missing several critical and difficult to acquire components.

[TheEngineer]

Some Interesting Reading...

www.wisconsinproject.org/pubs/articles/2001/bomb%20facts.htm

From the aforementioned web page...

Uranium-235 needed to make a bomb:

- 60 kilograms: Reported amount used in Hiroshima bomb "Little Boy."

- 50 kilograms: Weight of a solid sphere of 100 percent uranium-235 just large enough to achieve a critical mass without a reflector.

- 15 kilograms: Weight of a solid sphere of 100 percent uranium-235 just large enough to achieve a critical mass with a beryllium reflector.

- 16 kilograms: Amount needed for an Iraqi bomb design found by UN inspectors.

[AdA$tra]

The picture on Drudge says "Made in Germany". Did you catch that?

That might prove interesting even if just the lead case was made in Germany. Probably specialized and control sale items.

[AdA$tra]

At the same time, there's no way they could know it's weapons grade without a mass spectrum.

Unless it was indentifiable by other means as to it's origin.

[Pravoslavie]

Yes, I caught that! The Turkish police are reporting that this Uranium is from East Europe. That makes no sense because the printinging would at least be in Cryllic. This looks like these two men could have stolen one of the tactical nuclear payloads that Turkey possesses with US permission and oversight.

Yet Bill Kristol and company would have you believe Russian nukes are a security problem and Turkey is our most reliable ally in the region. That won't be true if radical Islamicists can penetrate the Turkish Army and get their hands on our own nukes! Weekly Standard police thyself!

[JimSEA]

Made in W. Germany"

I noticed that. How long has this stuff been around? Just what are the German connections. As others have asked, how much has gotten through. Time is a'wasting. This is a picture of a smoking gun if there has ever been one. I don't want anyone nuked, particularly USA and friends.

[wretchard]

From an Eastern European country, eh? Look at this graphic accompanying the news. It visibly says, "Made in W. Germany"

[Aquinasfan]

Weapons grade, mind you !!!

Good point. How many pounds to make a nuke?

Here's my prediciton. Saddam holds out on the palace inspections until the last minute. Then he "capitulates" under American threats. The inspectors are let in and find nothing. Bush is embarassed and loses so much support that an invasion is no longer politically feasible. You know what happens next.

[crz]

What size device would this be? Could such a device be carried on say a business jet like a Leer?

[concentric circles]

Response from the appeasing Left:

" How can we bomb Iraq for something that was found in Turkey?"

Any bets something like this will be heard on a Sunday talk show?

[TheEngineer]

What size device would this be? Could such a device be carried on say a business jet like a Leer?

I'm no expert on the subject. The link that I posted was from doing a yahoo search to learn more. Along with ~36 pounds of U-235, other hardware is required. For example, an implosion-detonated device (using explosives to bring together separate pieces of U-235 into a "critical mass") requires high-explosives wrapped around the core. I have read elsewhere that the USSR developed a suitcase bomb, and therefore I'm sure that one could theoretically be transported on a business jet.

[republicman]

Do we have to see all of NYC go up in am mushroom cloud before the liberals will want to hit Iraq.

But of course intervention in Kosovo was vitally important /sarcasm

[piasa]

The cannister may say W Germany, but the contents may be another matter entirely.

Another tidbit:

Hot House ... Uranium in Columbia

[Man of the Right]

If memory serves, 40-lb. is enough for a 20K nuclear weapon.

[seeker41]

UN inspectors have learned that Iraq's first bomb design, which weighed a ton and was a full meter in diameter, was replaced by a smaller, more efficient model. From discussions with the Iraqis, the inspectors have deduced that the new design weighs only about 600 kilograms and measures only 600 to 650 millimeters in diameter. That makes it small enough to fit on Iraq's Scud-type missiles, some of which are still unaccounted for. Iraq has mastered the key technique of creating an implosive shock wave, which squeezes a bomb's nuclear material enough to trigger a chain reaction. The new Iraqi design also uses a "flying tamper," a refinement that "hammers" the nuclear material to squeeze it even harder, so that bombs can be made smaller without diminishing their explosive force. The inspectors have determined that Iraq now has a successful bomb design and lacks only the material to fuel it.

[The Raven]

Nobody has a clue as to the odds of an inspection crew finding something relevent in Iraq.

I put the odds very low. Even with unlimited access.

[Neophyte]

...Uranium is from East Europe. That makes no sense because the printinging would at least be in Cryllic.

Not at all. It would be in Cyrillic only if it's from Russia, Bulgaria or Serbia. Poland, Czechia and Slovakia, Rumania, Albania, Hungary all use Roman alphabet. Anyway, all of them with the exception of Russia are out of the equation - they have no weapon grade U, nor they ever had nukes not controlled by Russians.