550 metric tons of Iraq’s "Yellowcake" secretly taken to Canada

Source: AFP, 08-07-2008

WASHINGTON: At Iraq's request, the US military this year transferred hundreds of metric tons of "yellowcake" uranium from Iraq to Canada in a secret, weeks-long operation, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.

The 550 metric tons of uranium, which was sold to a Canadian company, was moved by truck convoy to Baghdad's "Green Zone," then flown by military aircraft to a third country where it was put on a ship for Canada, said Bryan Whitman, the spokesman.

"The operation was completed over the weekend, on Saturday," Whitman said.

The yellowcake was discovered after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq at the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Facility south of Baghdad, and was placed under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Yellowcake is a processed uranium ore that can be used to make fuel for nuclear reactors, or, if further enriched, as fuel for nuclear weapons.