[Tuwaitha:] Uranium at Iraqi Plant Is Secured, Diplomats Say
Associated Press
Saturday, June 21, 2003; Page A15
washingtonpost.com
VIENNA, June 20 -- Experts from the U.N. atomic agency have accounted for tons of uranium feared looted from Iraq's largest nuclear research facility, diplomats said today.
The natural and low-enriched uranium was secured at the Tuwaitha facility, southeast of Baghdad, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity. Tuwaitha was left unguarded after Iraqi troops fled the area on the eve of the war.
U.S. troops did not secure the area until April 7. Meantime, looters from surrounding villages had stripped it of uranium storage barrels they later used to hold drinking water.
The International Atomic Energy Agency sent a team to Iraq earlier this month to secure the uranium at the Tuwaitha facility.
The mission -- whose scope was restricted by the U.S.-led interim administration of Iraq -- was not allowed to give medical exams to Iraqis reported to have been sickened by contact with the materials, said the diplomats.
The IAEA team also was unable to determine whether hundreds of radioactive materials used in research and medicine across the country were secure. Officials fear such material could be used to make crude radioactive devices known as "dirty bombs."
The experts, who began their work at the Tuwaitha research facility June 7, were not able to determine how much damage was done to the plant during the war.
The diplomats, who are familiar with the workings of the IAEA, agreed to discuss the mission only on condition they not be named.
Tuwaitha was thought to contain hundreds of tons of natural uranium and nearly two tons of low-enriched uranium, which could be further processed for arms use.
The diplomats did not detail how much uranium had been looted and where it was found, but it appeared much of it was on or near the site.
U.S. military officials who accompanied the IAEA team said last week that initial assessments indicated most of the uranium that had been stored at the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center was accounted for.
Although at least 20 percent of the containers which stored the uranium were taken from the site, it appeared that looters had dumped the uranium before taking the barrels. |
