U.S. Removed Radioactive Materials From Iraq Facility
By Walter Pincus
Wa****ngton Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 7, 2004; Page A16
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced yesterday that almost two tons
of
low-enriched uranium and about 1,000 radioactive samples used for research
had been removed from Iraq's Tuwaitha Nuclear Center and brought to the
United States for security reasons.
The airlift of the radioactive materials was completed June 23, Abraham
said
in a statement, "to keep potentially dangerous nuclear materials out of
the
hands of terrorists." Less sensitive radiological materials -- used for
medical, agricultural or industrial purposes -- were left in Iraq,
according
to a Department of Energy statement.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which in the prewar period had
kept
the Tuwaitha uranium under seal, was told in advance of the U.S. removal,
as
were Iraqi officials.
Tuwaitha was once the center of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons effort,
but
its equipment was dismantled at the direction of U.N. inspectors in the
early 1990s as part of the agreement following Iraq's surrender in the
1991
Persian Gulf War. The U.N. inspectors removed highly enriched uranium that
could be used for weapons and ****pped it for storage in Russia. The
low-enriched uranium was placed under seal in storage at Tuwaitha but
under
the control of the IAEA.
Before the U.S.-led coalition's invasion of Iraq, as the Bush
administration
alleged that Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear program, Tuwaitha was a
target for U.S. intelligence.
In April 2003, just days after the statue of Hussein in Baghdad was pulled
down, a U.S. Marine engineering company took a close look at Tuwaitha,
which
is 30 miles south of Baghdad. There they found guards had abandoned their
posts and looters were roaming the giant facility. At one storage
building,
which later was found to hold radioactive samples used in research, the
radiation levels were too high to enter safely, although the entrance door
stood wide open.
A month later, the Pentagon rejected suggestions that U.N. inspectors be
allowed to reenter Iraq but agreed the IAEA experts could return to secure
the uranium that had been under its seal for years.
© 2004 The Wa****ngton Post Company
--
Let the name calling begin!!! (its all you libs have)
|
