Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility

The Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility adjacent to the Tuwaitha "Yellow Cake Factory" or Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center contains the remains of nuclear reactors bombed by Iran in 1980, Israel in 1981 and the United States in 1991. It was used as a storage facility for spent reactor fuel and industrial and medical wastes. The radioactive material would not be useful for a fission bomb, but could be used in a dirty bomb. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the facility was heavily looted by hundreds of Iraqis, though it is unclear what was taken. 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.