Here We Go Again-Iran tried to smuggle uranium from the Congo

[kpete]

Blog: Iran tried to smuggle uranium from the Congo

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday August 8, 2006

An United Nations report shows that Iran recently attempted to smuggle uranium out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, RAW STORY has learned.

Douglas Douglas Farah, http://www.douglasfarah.com/article/87/the-drc-and-uranium-for-iran#comment an investigative journalist and terrorism expert, blogged about a Sunday Times (UK) story showing that a shipment of uranium-238 had been intercepted in Tanzania en route to Iran in October 2005. The U-238 was reportedly concealed in a shipment of coltan, a material that is used in the manufacture of chips for cell phones. The Times story said the July UN report found "a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238." A Tanzanian customs official contacted by the Times further explained "When we opened the container it was full of drums of coltan. Each drum contains about 50kg of ore. When the first and second rows were removed,the ones after that were found to be drums of uranium."

...........

There are some indications that Iran is not in need of foreign sources of uranium. GlobalSecurity.org reports that Iran has 10 uranium mines operating in the country, and that therefore "Iran's domestic reserves might be sufficient enough to supply the raw material for needed nuclear power plants in future." The Saghand mine in the northeastern Yazd province reportedly has "reserves estimated at 3,000-5,000 tons of uranium oxide," the feeder material known as yellowcake that is a common first step in making nuclear fuel.

This is not the first time that the DR Congo has been identified as a source of uranium for states with nuclear weapons programs. In September 2002, the Times also reported that Iraq sought uranium from the country.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Blog_Iran_tried_to_smuggle_uranium_0808.html

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Which CIA operative will be illegally outed by * this time? n/t

[elehhhhna]

2. It was going to Khazikstan, via Iran's port. MORE BS.

[liberal N proud]

3. The American people wouldn't buy the same bu$h $hit story again

WOULD THEY?

[leftchick]

5. of course they would

half still believe saddam had wmd. It is hopeless. :(

[MadJohnShaft]

4. Getting Africa out of the Munitions business would be a better approach

[MadHound]

6. Not all, or even most, uranium is for military use

The vast majority of it is for civilian use. Given that Africa is the poorest continent in the world, what would you propose to replace the uranium trade with?

It isn't the responsibiliy of Congo or any other African nation to insure that uranium is used for onl civilian purposes. That falls onto both those who purchasing the product, and also international agencies like the UN and the IAEA. Asking a desperately poor country to give up one of it's few legitimate exports is wrong. It is imposing an unfair burden upon those least able to bear it.

[WilliamPitt]

7. Iraq could smuggle 200 million tons of uranium in

but since they didn't have the technical infrastructure to do anything with it after years of sanctions and bombings...well...that uranium would just kinda sit there and glow.

:shaking head:

I call bullshit. This is like Iraq smuggling in a bunch of train cars without having any rails to run them on.

[n2doc]

8. Both Iran and Iraq have U mines

And thus have NO need to import unenriched uranium. Just so People can remember, 238U is the long lived isotope of U, it is useless for bomb making unless put in a breeder reactor to convert it to Plutonium, as North Korea has done. "Depleted" Uranium is nearly all 238U. Iran could probably have all the 238U they want by having some of their Iraqi friends pick it up next door (from USA tank rounds in the war) and bring it over the border. The bomb making form is the lighter isotope 235U, which requires extensive and complicated isolation processes (i.e. centrifuges) to extract from natural U ore.
Expect Hannity et al to bleat this story constantly as an excuse to attack Iran.

[mom cat]

9. Not xery original, is it? Iran has enough of its own uranium.