Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center

History

The Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center was the main nuclear site in Iraq that was involved with handling nuclear material. It was started in 1967 when three main nuclear facilities and waste location were put in operation. These were the IRT 2000 research reactor, the radioisotope production building and the dumping station (waste store). Many other nuclear facilities were subsequently constructed at this site, and the IRT 2000 reactor was also upgraded to IRT 5000.

Until 1991, the facility was a nuclear research facility supposedly under the direction of Khidir Hamza. The facility is surrounded by a sand berm four miles (6.4 km) around and 160 feet (50 m) high, and contained the French-built research reactor Osirak, destroyed by Israel in 1981. Israel contended that there was a secret underground compartment for the production of plutonium. Plutonium is produced in breeder reactors by surrounding a neutron source, such as a nuclear reactor, with a 'blanket' of U-238. The neutrons released by nuclear fission are donated, producing Pu-239 and is the cheapest and easiest way to achieve large-scale production of plutonium. The director of the IAEA, which conducted regular inspections of the complex, argued that a secret vault 40 meters below the reactor core would not be very effective, to which Israel responded by correcting their original statement to 4 meters. The IAEA was aware of such a vault but the reactor floor was shielded and the vault contained the mechanisms for raising the control rods which requires access for maintenance. According to the Director of the IAEA, the shielding would block the neutrons needed to turn U-238 into Pu-239 and the reactor would not be able to operate if the vault was blocked by being filled with uranium.

As the sole reactor site in Iraq, the reactors relied on fuel imported from France and was unable to produce significant quantities of enriched uranium. In 1991, If Iraq had converted their entire stockpile of nuclear fuel rods, assuming they were able to perform the extremely difficult task of separation from highly irradiated fuel which contained 69 elements, they would only have 41 kg of U-235, less than the 64 kg used in Little Boy. 52 kg of 93% HEU is the minimum critical mass required to create a uranium bomb. They did not have the technical capabilities or resources to produce an implosion type device that uses less U-235 but requires complex lenses and initiators.

During the initial months of the occupation, Tuwaitha was protected by American forces and administered by contractors from the Raytheon Corporation. Complete control of the facility was turned over to Iraqi authorities in the Summer of 2004. During American occupation the complex was looted, mostly for scrap lead. Lead-lined barrels and containers were emptied on-site then taken to a nearby improvised lead foundry then smelted into ingots. The operation was conducted in two parts. The first was a highly orchestrated event requiring industrial machinery in which large pieces of shielding from the destroyed reactors was stolen. The second involved local villagers carrying items on hand-carts. At most 10 kg of uranium was lost in what could easily be explained as minor contamination by a few grams of dust per vessel of the more than 200 containers stolen.