Addition to Post Mortom on Operation DESERT STORM
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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