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Filename:048pgv.00p

Addition to Post Mortom on Operation DESERT STORM

		Iraq's development and use of a Radiological Destructive 
Device (RDD) would have required access to some of the laboratory 
facilities at Tuwaitha or similar facilities if available 
elsewhere.  Iraq had four potential sources of radioactive 
material: spent reactor fuel, commercially producted and purchased 
radioisotopes (i.e., cobalt-60 for medical irradiation sources), 
Iraqi made isotopes and low level radioactive waste from 
laboratory and medical procedures.  While little is known about 
the Iraqi inventory of radioactive material, the latter two 
sources would probably have very low levels of activity or be 
short-llived.  The overall inventory is assessed to have been 
quite small.

		As a result of DESERT STORM, the known Iraqi facilities 
which could provide the services necessary to make radioactive 
material available in a form usable in an RDD were either 
destroyed or severely damaged.  The spent fuel disposition is 
currently uncertain since both the IRT and the Isis reactors were 
bombed.  Thus availability of spent fuel for access to the 
contained radioactive sources for medical or manufacturing 
purposes is uniknown.  However, preparation of radioactive 
materials for use in a warhead without an appropriate facility 
would require exposure of the work force to lethal levels of 
radiation.  The gain would be, at best, a psychological weapon 
with no military utility.

 



 

 

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