dbu wrote:
> > The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program - a huge
> > stockpile of concentrated natural uranium - reached a Canadian port
> > Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week
> > airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
> >
> > The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" - the seed material for
> > higher-grade nuclear enrichment - was a significant step toward closing
> > the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and
> > Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or
> > smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.
> >
> > What's now left is the final and complicated push to clean up the
> > remaining radioactive debris at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex
> > about 12 miles south of Baghdad - using teams that include Iraqi experts
> > recently trained in the Chernobyl fallout zone in Ukraine.
> >
> > "Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq," said a senior
> > U.S. official who outlined the nearly three-month operation to The
> > Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because
> > of the sensitivity of the subject.
> >
> > While yellowcake alone is not considered potent enough for a so-called
> > "dirty bomb" - a conventional explosive that disperses radioactive
> > material - it could stir widespread panic if incorporated in a blast.
> > Yellowcake also can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher
> > levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.
> >
> > The Iraqi government sold the yellowcake to a Canadian uranium producer,
> > Cameco Corp. (CCJ), in a transaction the official described as worth
> > "tens of millions of dollars." A Cameco spokesman, Lyle Krahn, declined
> > to discuss the price, but said the yellowcake will be processed at
> > facilities in Ontario for use in energy-producing reactors.
> >
> > "We are pleased ... that we have taken (the yellowcake) from a volatile
> > region into a stable area to produce clean electricity," he said. > >
> > The deal culminated more than a year of intense diplomatic and military
> > initiatives - kept hushed in fear of ambushes or attacks once the
> > convoys were under way: first carrying 3,500 barrels by road to Baghdad,
> > then on 37 military flights to the Indian Ocean atoll of Diego Garcia
> > and finally aboard a U.S.-flagged ship for a 8,500-mile trip to Montreal. > >
> > And, in a symbolic way, the mission linked the current attempts to
> > stabilize Iraq with some of the high-profile claims about Saddam's
> > weapons capabilities in the buildup to the 2003 invasion.
> >
> > Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the
> > African nation of Niger - and an article by a former U.S. ambassador
> > refuting the claims - led to a wide-ranging probe into Washington leaks
> > that reached high into the Bush administration.
> >
> > Tuwaitha and an adjacent research facility were well known for decades
> > as the centerpiece of Saddam's nuclear efforts.
> >
> > Israeli warplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later,
> > U.N. inspectors documented and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had
> > been stored in aging drums and containers since before the 1991 Gulf
> > War. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the
> > official said.
> >
> > U.S. and Iraqi forces have guarded the 23,000-acre site - surrounded by
> > huge sand berms - following a wave of looting after Saddam's fall that
> > included villagers toting away yellowcake storage barrels for use as
> > drinking water cisterns.
> >
> > Yellowcake is obtained by using various solutions to leach out uranium
> > from raw ore and can have a corn meal-like color and consistency. It
> > poses no severe risk if stored and sealed properly. But exposure carries
> > well-documented health concerns associated with heavy metals such as
> > damage to internal organs, experts say.
> >
> > "The big problem comes with any inhalation of any of the yellowcake
> > dust," said Doug Brugge, a professor of public health issues at the
> > Tufts University School of Medicine.
> >
> > Moving the yellowcake faced numerous hurdles.
> >
> > Diplomats and military leaders first weighed the idea of shipping the
> > yellowcake overland to Kuwait's port on the Persian Gulf. Such a route,
> > however, would pass through Iraq's Shiite heartland and within easy
> > range of extremist factions, including some that Washington claims are
> > aided by Iran. The ship also would need to clear the narrow Strait of
> > Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, where U.S. and Iranian ships often come
> > in close contact.
> >
> > Kuwaiti authorities, too, were reluctant to open their borders to the
> > shipment despite top-level lobbying from Washington.
> >
> > An alternative plan took shape: shipping out the yellowcake on cargo > > planes.
> >
> > But the yellowcake still needed a final destination. Iraqi government
> > officials sought buyers on the commercial market, where uranium prices
> > spiked at about $120 per pound last year. It's currently selling for
> > about half that. The Cameco deal was reached earlier this year, the > > official said.
> >
> > At that point, U.S.-led crews began removing the yellowcake from the
> > Saddam-era containers - some leaking or weakened by corrosion - and
> > reloading the material into about 3,500 secure barrels.
> >
> > In April, truck convoys started moving the yellowcake from Tuwaitha to
> > Baghdad's international airport, the official said. Then, for two weeks
> > in May, it was ferried in 37 flights to Diego Garcia, a speck of British
> > territory in the Indian Ocean where the U.S. military maintains a base. > >
> > On June 3, an American ship left the island for Montreal, said the
> > official, who declined to give further details about the operation. > >
> > The yellowcake wasn't the only dangerous item removed from Tuwaitha. > >
> > Earlier this year, the military withdrew four devices for controlled
> > radiation exposure from the former nuclear complex. The lead-enclosed
> > irradiation units, used to decontaminate food and other items, contain
> > elements of high radioactivity that could potentially be used in a
> > weapon, according to the official. Their Ottawa-based manufacturer, MDS
> > Nordion, took them back for free, the official said.
> >
> > The yellowcake was the last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear
> > efforts, but years of final cleanup is ahead for Tuwaitha and other > > smaller sites.
> >
> > The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency plans to offer technical > > expertise.
>
> You forgot to cite the source.
Would it make a difference to you?