|
IAEA Confirms Yellowcake Found in Rotterdam Likely From Iraq
The U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed Friday that Iraq was the likely source of radioactive material known as yellowcake that was found in a shipment of scrap metal at Rotterdam harbor. Yellowcake, or uranium oxide, could be used to build a nuclear weapon, although it would take tons of the substance refined with sophisticated technology to harvest enough uranium for a single bomb. A spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said the Rotterdam specimen was scarcely refined at all from natural uranium ore and may have come from a known mine in Iraq that was active before the 1991 Gulf War. "I wouldnât hype it too much," said spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. "It was a small amount and it wasnât being peddled as a sample."The yellowcake was uncovered Dec. 16 by Rotterdam-based scrap metal company Jewometaal, which had received it in a shipment of scrap metal from a dealer in Jordan. Company spokesman Paul de Bruin said the Jordanian dealer didnât know that the scrap metal contained any radioactive material. He said the dealer was confident the yellowcake, which was contained in a small steel industrial container, came from Iraq. Jewometaal detected the radioactive material during a routine scan and called in the Dutch government, which in turn asked the IAEA to examine it. Fleming said the agency will compare the chemical composition of the sample to other samples of ore taken from Iraqâs al-Qaim mine, which was bombed in 1991 and dismantled in 1996-97. She estimated that the Rotterdam sample contained around 5 pounds of uranium oxide. Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2004-01-16 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=24484 |