U.S. Removed Radioactive Materials From Iraq Facility

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U.S. Removed Radioactive Materials From Iraq Facility

James Joyner | Wednesday, July 7, 2004

WaPo – U.S. Removed Radioactive Materials From Iraq Facility

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 shipped it for storage in Russia. The low-enriched uranium was placed under seal in storage at Tuwaitha but under the control of the IAEA.

Interesting.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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