> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334/
>
> Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq
> Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada
>
> 3:57 p.m. PT, Sat., July. 5, 2008
>
> 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., 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.
>
> Secret mission
> 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.
>
> Click for related content
> Iran signals no plans to stop its nuclear regime
>
> 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.
>
> Hurdles ahead of hauling yellowcake
> 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.
>
> Saddam's stockpile
> 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.
>