Oh. Please. Here they go again: "Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa "

[elehhhhna]

The Sunday Times August 06, 2006
Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa
Jon Swain, David Leppard and Brian Johnson-Thomas

IRAN is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb, an investigation has revealed.
A United Nations report, dated July 18, said there was “no doubt” that a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania, was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo.

Tanzanian customs officials told The Sunday Times it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2300772,00.html

[elehhhhna]

1. Calling Joe & Valerie!!! Please comment.

[me b zola]

7. I wish they could....or could they?

Because Valerie's covert work dealt with WMD's & Iran, I doubt that she is at liberty to discuss any info that she may have. She could perhaps speak/leak through a proxy, but that is dangerous and will anybody listen?

[elehhhhna]

22. I think...

Joe was probaby cia undercover, too, and it didn't stop him from writing the editorial.

Some people (thw Wilsons, for 2)go into public service for love of country. MOST DON'T.

[me b zola]

25. I think the same about Joe

Only they (and a few others) know their legal limitations. I hope we do hear, one way or another, from them on this issue.

[cool user name]

2. Not another sixteen words!

[NYCGirl]

3. The difference is that information seems to be from the UN. NT

[Truthiness Inspector]

10. Yup

The Iranian government draws the line at funding and weaponizing Hezbollah and threatening Israel, so the United Nations must be lying. :eyes:

[NYCGirl]

11. Remember, the UN inspectors were RIGHT about Iraq. NT

[SPKrazy]

13. This Is The UN-And They WERE Right About Iraq

could they be right about Iran?

[NYCGirl]

14. I certainly trust the UN more than I trust the Bush administration. NT

[SPKrazy]

15. I Do Too.

at this point, I'd trust anyone more than Bush

[charlie]

18. The info is probably correct

But the article is lousy. Right out of the box they call it "bomb making" uranium, which is like calling fertilizer "bomb making fertilizer." And mined from the same area that "produced" the Hiroshima bomb, oh no! U-238 is the most common isotope, it's the stuff everyone starts with, whether for fuel or weapons. And this:

In a nuclear reactor, uranium 238 can be used to breed plutonium used in nuclear weapons.

Yeah, if you've got a breeder reactor. Iran is using centrifuges for enrichment.

And the article has odd interludes about terror plots against reactors in the UK, like cutscenes in a suspense movie.

Iran has 1000 some odd centrifuges and have claimed enrichment rates of 3-5%, which is fuel grade, and is what they're allowed to do under the NPT. In order to amass enough weapons grade uranium for a bomb they'll need many thousands of centrifuges. There is an underground site speculated to be home to up to 50,000. They're also purportedly building a breeder reactor, guesstimated to be operational in a decade.

That's where we are right now. Cause for concern? Yes. Primed for sensational, alarmist bullshit like the the Times article? Yes, again. We don't want them to get away with stampeding us into yet another (one with the most potential for dire consequences) mideast war. There's time to pursue other avenues before we let the neocon crazies embroil us in another disaster.

[elehhhhna]

19. Lame DUck has plaed Sitting Ducks in Iraq. Iran invasion? Suicidal.

[johnaries]

27. Exact;y what I was thinking. It's a long way from 5% fuel grade to

98% weapons grade.

And I sincerely doubt anyone will sell them a breeder reactor.

[struggle4progress]

38. Any link to the alleged UN document?

[rurallib]

4. I think I've seen that story before with less Ns and more Qs in it.

I even kind of remember how it ends. Something about a forged receipt and an American diplomat.

[savemefromdumbya]

5. yellowcake revisited

[bullimiami]

9. yellow cake?

[savemefromdumbya]

12. here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowcake_Forgery

[Nikki Stone 1]

6. No shit!

Is it arrogance or stupidity?

Or do they think Americans are that stupid?

Certainly the rest of the world isn't.

[charlie]

8. They can forget about the tubes this time around

They're all being used in the internets.

[elehhhhna]

20. oh no you di'n't.

[scarletwoman]

16. Did you get this part -- it was destined for KAZAKHSTAN.

The shipment was destined for smelting in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, delivered via Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port.

So the uranium was ACTUALLY being shipped to Kazakhstan, via a port in Iran. So that makes Iran guilty? :banghead:

sw

[Ghost Dog]

32. Yup, and Kazakhstan would have the ex-Soviet know-how,

almost certainly, to manufacture nuclear weapons of their own (though this would perhaps be just fuel, if the story's even halfway true.).

Stand by for plenty of hitherto unnecessary, recently-provoked proliferation, folks.

Hummm. A quick search (and as #26 points out below) shows that Kazakhstan is just beginning a nuclear energy project, in partnership with Russia. This article says that, since Russia is a little short of Uranium, one advantage to Russia would be to receive Uranium from Kazakhstan's natural resources:

http://kazakhstan.neweurasia.net/?p=147
Kazakhstan enters nuclear age
Posted by Ben | in Economy, Development | on July 27th, 2006

As reported on this blog before, Kazakhstan aims to diversify its energy sources and has long flirted with the idea to build a nuclear plant. This comes despite the pivotal role protests against nuclear testing took during perestroika.

Focus reports that Kazakhstan’s nuclear state agency Kazatomprom has found a partner in building the first nuclear power plant. Russian company Atomstroyexport will be partnering with the Kazakh side in order to

"{develop} and {introduce} innovative projects for nuclear reactor facility units of low and medium capacity to markets in Kazakhstan, Russia and third countries"

The first reactor will be built in Aktau, and as all Russian-Kazakh joint-ventures in the nuclear sphere, will be realised with Russian high-tech and Kazakh capital.

"According to Petrunin, there is no operating reactor of such capacity in the world, while Russia has constructed 460 prototype models for icebreakers and submarines."

The Aktau project is only part of a bigger deal worth $10 billion. Russia’s domestic uranium production covers only 20% of its demand. With the new deal, Russia will get access to cheap Kazakh uranium by lending its know-how:

Kiriyenko added that the new project would produce 5,000-6,000 metric tons of uranium a year while Russia’s annual output at the moment totaled slightly over 3,000 tons.

/...

[Ghost Dog]

35. More info from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

http://www.sipri.org/contents/expcon/cnsc1kaz.html

[leesa]

37. No wonder Cheney was visiting a while back....you always know there's

a bribe for something when he slimes out of his hole.

[Vidar]

17. Sometimes "yellow cake" is just a lemon.

[elehhhhna]

21. there ia a yellow cake in EVERY port-a-potty. Big deal.

[Vidar]

24. The war on urinals--coming soon.

[deadparrot]

23. Good lord. At least come up with something unique. nt

[struggle4progress]

26. This is a strange "Coals to Newcastle" story; independent confirmation ..

... might be nice.

... The shipment was destined for smelting in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, delivered via Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port ...

Proposed classification: Things that make you go Hmmm ...

Deposits of Kazakhstan

The resources of Kazakhstan contain about 19% of explored reserves of uranium in the world – which is around 1,5 million tons. Dozens of uranium deposits discovered on the territory of Kazakhstan are different in terms of formation conditions and practical value. The deposits grouped in the following six uranium provinces ... http://www.kazatomprom.kz/cgi-bin/index.cgi?p26&version=en

New Uranium Mining Projects - Asia ... Iran ...

Saghand mine
... The Saghand uranium mine project is situated 185 km north-east of the city of Yazd, covering an area of 20 hectares. The detail exploration, completed in 1994, was concentrated on two important anomalies called no. 1 and 2, resulting in a calculated reserve of 1.58 million metric tonnes of uranium ore, at an average grade of 533 ppm (0.0533% U). This corresponds to a total uranium contents of 842 metric tonnes of U ...

Bandar Abbas deposit
Iran's nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said on May 3, 2006, studies show there are considerable amounts of uranium ore at Bandar Abbas, mineable in open pits. According to first estimates, an annual production of 30 t of U3O8 seems to be possible, at lower mining cost than at Saghand. (AFP May 3, 2006) ... http://www.wise-uranium.org/upasi.html#IR

So the claim here is that uranium is being smuggled out of a closed mine in Africa to be sent to Kazakhstan (with perhaps the largest uranium deposits in the world) via a port in a uranium producing region of Iran, another country with significant uranium deposits. And this is supposedly detailed in an unidentified UN report that no other news agency knows about, in a story cowritten by Jon Swain, who has previously helped catapult nuclear propaganda ...

[Ghost Dog]

33. BINGO! "Jon Swain, who has previously helped catapult nuclear propaganda"

The US Air Force will be ordered to hit Iran in September (if not late August), I calculate.

[robinlynne]

28. I thought your thread title was sarcastic!

[Justice Is Comin]

29. Yawn.

:donut: Like trying to make bread rise with foot powder.

[lala_rawraw]

30. Bullshit...

Trigger, remember, we know this is coming. Get on it guys

[JesterCS]

31. They Cant Honestly Believe

we'd fall for the same thing twice.... Can they??

[Ghost Dog]

34. Since they control the media that programs the masses,

YES.

[scarletwoman]

40. Why not? You see some DUers falling for it on this thread, don't you? (nt)

[leesa]

36. "bomb making uranium", huh? Who wrote this? Bolton?

They are getting so desperate to start a war with Iran it is becoming truly pathetic.

[struggle4progress]

39. Iran denies reported uranium import from DRC

... Chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told reporters at a press conference that "the report is completely inauthentic, we have uranium mines and reprocessing plant in Iran, obviously we don't need to import." ...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-08/07/content_4927052.htm


Iran denies DRC uranium claims
06/08/2006 21:59 - (SA)

... The British publication also cited a United Nations report, due to be considered by the security council, which said there was "no doubt" that a large shipment of U-238 discovered in Tanzania was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the DRC ...

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1978913,00.html