DEMO  |
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/iraq.uranium/index.html In this 2003 photo, UN inspectors work at the nuclear facility in Iraq. 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, involved a U.S. truck convoy, 37 cargo flights out of Baghdad to a transitional location, and then a transoceanic voyage on board a U.S.-government-owned ship designed to carry troops to a war zone, he said. The "yellowcake" uranium transfer was requested by the Iraqi government at the encouragement of the U.S. government, Whitman said. The United States approached Canadian company Cameco to bid for the material, according Cameco spokesman Lyle Krahn. He would not disclose the winning bid amount. Krahn admitted that this was not a "routine transaction," but he said the agreement was approved by the Canadian government and was carefully monitored. Don't Miss He said yellowcake uranium is a commonly traded commodity used for nuclear power generation. It is not enriched and cannot be used without first going through a complicated enrichment process, he said, but because of the unstable nature of Iraq, the United States and the Iraqi government decided it should be moved out of that country. Iraq has no nuclear power generating plants. The uranium was packed into 110 shipping containers moved by convoy from a facility in Tuwaitha, Iraq, about 12 miles south of Baghdad. The containers were first moved to the secure International Zone in central Baghdad and then to Baghdad International Airport, where thery were loaded onto C-17 cargo planes. It took 37 flights to move the shipping containers out of Iraq to a "third country," Whitman said. A Pentagon official who asked not to be named said that third country was Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian Ocean where the United Kingdom and the United States operate a joint military base. From that third country, Whitman said, the containers were loaded onto the SS Gopher State, a U.S.-owned crane ship normally used to haul equipment in and out of war zones. The ship carried the uranium to Canada, where it was bought by Cameco, a private firm. The uranium will be sent by truck to two processing plants in Ontario, Krahn said. Once it has been enriched for energy use it will be sold to power plant operators, he said. The United States is Cameco's largest customer, Krahn said, but he did not specify if the Iraq yellowcake would ultimately end up in the United States. Whitman said the Department of Defense's cost of securing and transporting the uranium from Tuwaitha to Canada was $70 million, and the government of Iraq had agreed in principal to reimburse the United States for part of that cost. He said he could not say how much Iraq intends to repay the United States. We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do
|
samD
Have been very aware.
LLE
but it does have potential, and it would not have been good to have stored it in Iraq, because of potential Iranian/Syrian incursion.
LittleDragon
yellow cake will only barely register on a Geiger counter. while 500 tons sounds like a lot, only a few pounds of weapon grade, metallic, Uranium, material could ever be refined from it. probably not even 10 pounds neh. that is not even enough material to make one weapon from. it takes about 22 to 55 pounds of weapon grade material to make a simple fission weapon. but you are also correct that the potential of this, because of Iranian/Syrian interest in obtaining such material would pose a grave risk to leave it in Iraq. the price tag of 70 million dollar seem very high for the transport of this material to Canada, even factoring in security costs neh.
Your friend,
LittleDragon
BigEd
SAM-D Thanks for the info -- this got be used for a low grade drity bomb -- it would make a lot of people really sick and create health problems -cancer, heart- down the road. Those guys from the middle east don't care if it takes 50 years to defeit us as long as they do. That's there thinking.
runawaygun762
we took part in a huge cordon and search mission at an old chemical factory and while there, one of the plant managers said the Iraqi government had successfully enriched 33 mg of uranium in 1993. I don't know if this is a large amount deal or not, as the nuke thing is more intelligent than I am. It seems pretty small, only 33 mg, and the guy may have been lying, but the part of the plant that he said it happened in had been hit with quite a bit of ordnance during the '03 invasion.
runawaygun762
Gonna go kill paper men and soda bottles with my new Mossy. Later all.
runawaygun762
I have to wait 'till the wife gets off work. I made the mistake of inviting her to shoot with me. I hete it when she goes. She shoots up most the ammo. God I'm dumb.
runawaygun762
Wife's done, gotta get her and watch her shoot up all my bullets.
DEMO
So this is not a big deal.....