Reply #19: Some more info for you: [View All]

[Stephanie]

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Iraq's Nuke Poisoning Worries
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 22, 2003
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/22/iraq/main555122.shtml

<snip>Iraq has about 1,000 sites where radioactive materials are used in industry or medicine. But Tuwaitha, where Iraqis worked on the final design of a nuclear bomb before the 1991 Gulf War, has drawn the most concern since the recent Iraq war ended.

The Iraqis had been using the dormant plant to store declared nuclear materials that were prohibited and sealed by the U.N. nuclear agency in 1991. During the short-lived inspection regime that ran from November to the start of the war in March, IAEA inspectors visited the site 19 times.

Iraqi nuclear experts blame Americans for failing to guard the site quickly enough and prevent the looting.

"They knew that there were nuclear materials in this site, and they were supposed to protect it," Mohammed al-Hamadani, a researcher at Tuwaitha, said in an interview Wednesday.

<snip>

The teams are already monitoring the air around the area, and Col. Tim Madere, a U.S. specialist in unconventional weapons, acknowledged that "a potential health hazard" remains. He said 80 percent of the barrels containing radioactive material such as uranium remained intact.

Uranium, if enriched, is a key ingredient in nuclear weapons. The IAEA was monitoring 2 short tons of enriched uranium and several tons of natural and depleted uranium stored at Tuwaitha.

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IAEA Calls For Urgent Action On Nuclear Situation In Iraq
PR 2003/06 (19 May 2003)
http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/P_release/2003/prn0306.shtml

Boston, 19 May 2003 -- The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, called on the United States and other Coalition authorities to allow IAEA experts to return to Iraq to address a possible radiological emergency there. "I am deeply concerned by the almost daily reports of looting and destruction at nuclear sites and about the potential radiological safety and security implications of nuclear and radiological materials that may no longer be under control." Such reports have described among other things yellow cake emptied on the ground from containers then taken for domestic use, and radioactive sources being stolen and removed from their shielding. "We have a moral responsibility to establish the facts without delay and take urgent remedial action," said Dr. ElBaradei.

As hostilities in Iraq were coming to an end, Dr. ElBaradei wrote on 10 April to the US government bringing its attention to the need to secure the nuclear material stored at Tuwaitha - Iraq's nuclear research centre - and under IAEA seal since 1991. The IAEA also provided the United States with information about the nuclear material, radioactive sources, and nuclear waste in Iraq. The IAEA received oral assurances that physical protection of the site was in place; but following reports of looting there and at other sites, Dr. ElBaradei wrote again on 29 April, emphasizing the responsibility of the Coalition forces to maintain appropriate protection over the materials in question. This includes natural and low-enriched uranium, radioactive sources such as Cobalt 60 and Caesium 137, and nuclear waste. Dr. ElBaradei regrets that the IAEA has to date not received a response. He again urged that the Agency be allowed to send a safety and security team to Iraq so that a potentially serious humanitarian situation can be addressed without further delay. The IAEA has experienced international teams of radiation safety, nuclear security and emergency response specialists who could be deployed immediately into Iraq.

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http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqnuke22may22,0,6673467.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines

<snip>Built in the 1960s for Iraq's Atomic Energy Commission, it housed Hussein's secret effort to build a nuclear bomb.
A nuclear reactor complex at Tuwaitha was bombed by Israel in 1981, but uranium not yet enriched for nuclear weapons has remained there. Since the material was not weapons-grade, it was not banned or removed under U.N. resolutions after the Gulf War, but it was checked regularly by the IAEA.

The main gates at Tuwaitha, once one of the highest-security locations in Iraq, were stolen by looters shortly after Baghdad fell to U.S. troops April 9.

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http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqnuke22may22,0,6673467.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines
Dangerous Loot South of Baghdad
Iraqis near a nuclear research site become ill after materials are pilfered. Doctor says symptoms point to acute radiation syndrome.
May 22, 2003

RIYADH VILLAGE, Iraq -- Elifat Rusum Saber, 14, has been nauseated, tired and bleeding from the nose since her brother brought home metal and chemicals from the neighboring Tuwaitha nuclear research center two days after the fall of Baghdad.

<snip>Dr. Jaafar Nasser Suhayb, who runs a nearby clinic, said that over a five-day period he had treated about 20 patients from the neighborhood near Tuwaitha for similar symptoms — shortness of breath, nausea, severe nosebleeds and itchy rashes.

Suhayb is worried that the residents may be suffering from radiation poisoning since several of the symptoms are consistent with those of acute radiation syndrome.

<snip>"Radiation is cumulative," Gwozdecky said. "It's been 40 days since the looting began. That's why we need to act."

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/22/iraq/main555122.shtml
Iraq's Nuke Poisoning Worries
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 22, 2003

(CBS) The Iraqi Health Ministry has ordered an immediate health assessment around the country's largest nuclear facility after scavengers said they came into contact with radioactive materials they removed from the site.

The situation around the Tuwaitha nuclear plant has drawn international scrutiny from nuclear experts concerned that materials such as uranium were stolen or dumped by thieves in the area.

<snip>The Iraqis had been using the dormant plant to store declared nuclear materials that were prohibited and sealed by the U.N. nuclear agency in 1991. During the short-lived inspection regime that ran from November to the start of the war in March, IAEA inspectors visited the site 19 times.

Iraqi nuclear experts blame Americans for failing to guard the site quickly enough and prevent the looting.

"They knew that there were nuclear materials in this site, and they were supposed to protect it," Mohammed al-Hamadani, a researcher at Tuwaitha, said in an interview Wednesday.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13249-2003May19.html
U.N. Atomic Chief Again Warns U.S. About Iraq
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 20, 2003; Page A08

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned the United States for the third time yesterday of the danger of radioactive contamination in Iraq because of looting at nuclear sites and called on the Bush administration to allow his safety and emergency response teams to enter the country.

In a statement, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the Vienna-based IAEA, said he was deeply concerned that "nuclear and radioactive materials may no longer be under control" in Iraq. He said a safety and security team from the agency should be deployed immediately to avoid "a potentially serious humanitarian situation."

ElBaradei sent his first warning about the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center in Iraq to the administration on April 10 -- the day after Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's government collapsed. He also supplied U.S. officials with data about the nuclear material at the facility, 30 miles south of Baghdad. At that time, according to the IAEA, U.S. officials gave the agency "oral assurances" that U.S. forces were protecting the site.

The administration has been weighing for more than a month whether to allow inspectors from the IAEA or the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission to return to Iraq. A decision was first set aside until Iraq was secure enough to have the U.N. personnel return. More recently, it has been among the issues involved in internal U.S. discussions about a draft U.S.-sponsored U.N. Security Council resolution to lift international sanctions on Iraq.

Yesterday's statement from ElBaradei came after recent media stories reported on extensive looting at several Iraqi nuclear sites, including Tuwaitha. At Tuwaitha, the IAEA had stored under seal natural uranium oxide, also known as "yellow cake," low-enriched uranium and other radioactive sources. Media accounts said the materials had been spread on the ground, stolen or removed from their shielding.

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