From Reuters, June 7th:
More than 500 tonnes of natural uranium and 1.8 tonnes of low-enriched uranium were stored at Tuwaitha, plus smaller amounts of highly radioactive caesium, cobalt and strontium.
in.news.yahoo.com
From Reuters, May 6th:
WORRIED ABOUT DIRTY BOMBS
While most of the radioactive material found at these sites would be unusable for atomic weapons, the IAEA is concerned some of it could end up in the hands of terrorists who could use it for so-called dirty bombs.
A dirty bomb is made by attaching radioactive material to a conventional explosive like dynamite to disperse it over a wide area. These bombs are aimed more at creating panic than physical damage.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday he had no information from military or intelligence sources about the looting referred to in the Washington Post's eyewitness report.
"I don't know that there was a special concern that there was nuclear-related material at that particular site," he said.
in.news.yahoo.com
From the Philadelphia Inquirer, by way of the Charlotte Observer:
Hisham Abdel Malik, a Iraqi nuclear scientist who lives near Tuwaitha and has been inside the complex, told me that in buildings "where there are radioactive isotopes, there is looting every day." He says the isotopes, which are in bright silver containers, "are sold in the black market or kept in homes." According to IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming, such radioactive sources can kill on contact or pollute whole neighborhoods.
charlotte.com
I cannot find a reference I thought I had seen to finding some of this material on the black market, so I guess I conflated expressions of anxiety with positive assertions like the one above, for which I apologize. Still, there are numerous assertions that the material was of value on the black market........ |
