Information concerning Uranium 308

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SUBJECT:           Information concerning Uranium 308

l.  (U)  Uranium 308 as stated Is a misnomer.  What is meant Is U 
subscript 3, 0 (letter, not zero) subscript 8, or Uranium Oxide.  
0308 is basically Uranium ore after all the other dirt and rocks 
have been removed.

2.  (U)  U3O8 is feedstock ore for all subsequent Uranium 
processing and applications.

3.  U308 Is not a weapon and, therefore, there are no delivery 
means.

4.  U3O8 has no basis for weaponizatlon.  It could possibly be 
hazardous only after long term high level exposure in such 
activities as mining.

5.  Decontamination Is not applIcable in this situation.

6.  ChemIcal precursors are the intermediate chemicals needed to 
produce chemical warfare agents.  Since there are many different 
ways of producing CW agents and many chemical processes to reach 
the end product, there are hundreds of chemical agents which can 
be considered precursors.

7.   DIA does not believe Iraq has the agent phosgene.  Instead, 
they may have used phosgene oxime during the Iran-Iraq War.  
Phosgene oxime could be delivered by a number of artillery rounds 
or aerial bombs or rockets.  Phosgene oxime is a vesicant and 
would be employed in manner similar to sulphur mustard.  However,
the primary blister agent in Iraq's inventory is still sulphur 
mustard and any quantities of phosgene oxime are limited.

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