Name: Al-Jesira Facility[1]
Other Names: al-Jazirah, Al Jrezira, Mosul Production Facility[2]
Address/Location: 385km NW of Baghdad, west of Mosul
Subordinate to: PC-3
Size: Facility is made up of two plants (Buildings 212 and 244)
Primary Function: UCl4 and UO2 production
Description:
The Al-Jesira facility is the location of an industrial-scale plant for the production of uranium tetrachloride (UCl4) and a production-scale uranium purification (UO2) plant, both of which produce feedstock for an enrichment plant.[3] Iraq may have produced 420 drums containing 99,457kg of UO2 at Al-Jesira.[4] The Al-Jesira facility was also the planned location for a uranium hexafluoride (UF6) production plant.[5]
The Al-Jesira uranium conversion facility consisted of a UO2 plant (Facility #212, also known as the "Wax" Plant) and a UCl4 plant (Facility #244).[6]
Key Sources:
[1] Joseph Cirincione, "Iraq: Nuclear Infrastructure," The Three Hard Cases (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace [CEIP], 2002), p. 290.
[2] "Nuclear Capabilities of Iraq—the IAEA Plan of Action," IAEA, April 1992, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Press/Booklets/Iraq/iaeaplan.html>.
[3] Joseph Cirincione.
[4] IAEA Iraq Action Team, "Fact Sheet: Iraq's Nuclear Weapons Programme," IAEA, 25 April 2002, <http://www.iaea.or/at/worldatom/Programmes/
ActionTeam/nwpz.html>.
[5] Report on the Seventh IAEA On-Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687, 14 November 1991, UN Doc S/23215, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/S_23215.pdf>.
[6] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch, <http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
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Name: Al-Adaya
Address/Location: 30km south of Al-Jesira site
Subordinate to: PC-3
Primary Function: UCl4 production
Description:
Al-Jesira equipment and all the waste system piping from Al-Jesira's UO2 plant had been buried at Al-Adaya site in 1991.[7]
Key Sources:
[7] Report on the 25th IAEA On-Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), UN Doc S/1994/1001, 26 August 1994, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/s_1994_1001.pdf>.
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Name: Chemical Research Laboratories
Other Names: Chemical Engineering Research Laboratories
Address/Location: Building 85
Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Subordinate to: Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Size: An expansive facility with multiple conversion and extraction laboratories
Primary Function: UCl4 production
Description:
The Chemical Research Laboratories located in Al-Tuwaitha's Building 85 appear to be the center of Tuwaitha's conversion efforts. The Laboratories processed Brazilian-origin UO2 and Al-Jesira origin UO2 to produce UCl4.[8] In 1987, The UCl4 production efforts were transferred to laboratories in Building 85 from facilities in Buildings 9 and 15. Original conversion experiments took place in these facilities starting in 1982.[9] In July 1991, IAEA inspectors noted that the purpose of Building 85 was "chemical and chemical engineering-related R&D," which includes pilot-scale extraction activities to recover uranium from ore with high organic content.[10] The purpose of such a conversion process is usually to produce feedstock for fuel fabrication. Between 1982 and 1990 Iraq conducted approximately 15 laboratory-scale research projects and pilot-scale production and purification projects at these facilities.
The UCl4 conversion pilot plant (Project 242) was designed and constructed in Building 85 in 1988. Project 242 used UO2 as the feed material and gas phase chlorination and had a production capacity of 20-40kg UCl4 per day. During its operation from 1988 until 1990, the plant produced some 5,000kg of UCl4.[11] The design of Project 242 was used to construct industrial-scale UCl4 facility at Al-Jesira.
Building 85, along with other locations in the Tuwaitha Center, was heavily damaged during coalition air strikes, however after the IAEA team visit, the building was thoroughly demolished and the site where the building stood was graded.[12]
Key Sources:
[8] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch, <http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/
s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Consolidated Report on the First Two IAEA Inspections Under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991) of Iraqi Nuclear Capabilities, UN Doc S/22788, 11 July 1991, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/S_22788.pdf>.
[11] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme."
[12] Consolidated Report on the First Two IAEA Inspections Under Security Council Resolution 687.
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Name: Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Research and Development Complex[13]
Other Names:
Address/Location: 18km SSE of Baghdad
Building 85, 15B, 73
Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Subordinate to: Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Primary Function: Production of feedstock for enrichment or fuel fabrication processes
Description:
The Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Research and Development Complex is located in several buildings of the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center (TNRC). The Complex houses several TNRC conversion laboratories.[14] These laboratories include a laboratory-scale uranium purification facility to process UO2 into UF4, UF6, and Uranium metal, as well as a laboratory-scale UCl4 facility that processed UO2 into UCl4.[15]
Key Sources:
[13] Consolidated Report on the First Two IAEA Inspections Under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991) of Iraqi Nuclear Capabilities, UN Doc S/22788, 11 July 1991, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/s_22788.pdf>. This complex appears to house several conversion facilities.
[14] Ibid.; IAEA Iraq Action Team, "Fact Sheet: Iraq's Nuclear Weapons Programme," IAEA, 25 April 2002, <http://www.iaea.or/at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
nwpz.html>; "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch,
<http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
[15] IAEA Iraq Action Team, "Fact Sheet: Iraq's Nuclear Weapons Programme," IAEA, 25 April 2002, <http://www.iaea.or/at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/nwpz.html>; Joseph Cirincione, "Iraq: Nuclear Infrastructure," The Three Hard Cases (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2002), p. 290.
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Name: Engineering and Design Center
Other Names: Rashidiya Engineering and Design Center; EDC
Address/Location: Rashidiya, (Rashdiya)
Subordinate to: Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization[16]
Primary Function: Enrichment centrifuge development
Description:
In 1987, the Engineering and Design Center at Rashidiya became the core of Iraq's gas centrifuge enrichment program.[17] In 1998, media sources reported that Iraq had established a facility for making UF6 (hex) at Rashidiya.[18] Rashidiya's facilities for producing UF6 consisted of a boat-type reactor unit, originally operated in Building 15B of Al-Tuwaitha, and a replicated reactor unit. The two units constituted Project 234. The amount of UF6 produced by both units was reported to be 4kg. In 1988, a third unit, Project 235, based on designs of the two previous units, was constructed at Rashidiya. It produced an additional 500g of UF6.[19]
Key Sources:
[16] Report on the 15th IAEA On-Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687, UN Doc S/24981, 17 December 1992, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/s_24981.pdf>.
[17] David Albright, "Preventing Illegal Exports: Learning from Case Studies, Part II," Presented at the Conference "Nonproliferation, Nuclear Security, and Export Control: Lessons and Challenges," 9 April 2001, <http://www.isis-online.org/publications/expcontrol/albright2.html>.
[18] Andrei Ivanov and Judith Perera, "Moscow Wants IAEA To Shine A Light For Iraq," IPS World News, 30 January 1998, <http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/feb98/sanctions.html>.
[19] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch, <http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
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Name: Experimental Research Laboratory for Fuel Fabrication
Other Names: Experimental Fuel Fabrication Research Laboratory (EFFRL); Experimental Reactor Fuel Fabrication Laboratory (ERFFL)
Address/Location: Building 73
Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Subordinate to: Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Size: A complex of "smaller" buildings for conversion and fuel fabrication
Primary Function: UO4, UF4, Umetal and U3O8 production
Description:
Al-Tuwaitha's Experimental Research Laboratory for Fuel Fabrication, located in Building 73, processed Brazilian-origin and Al-Jesira origin UO2 and Al-Qaim yellowcake to produce UO2, U3O8, UO3, UO4, UF4, and uranium metal, which serve as feedstock for enrichment and/or fuel fabrication.[20]
The uranium metal development project was moved from Building 15 to facilities of Building 73 in the beginning of 1988.[21] Complex 73 is composed of smaller buildings, with main conversion and fuel-fabrication activities taking place in the laboratories of Buildings 73a and 73b.[22] The second phase of the project concentrated on the development of methods to improve the purity of the UF4 feed material. The actual production of uranium metal recommenced in November 1988. The metal production was still in the shape of disks, but they were thicker than the disks produced during the first phase and typically weighed 1.3kg. Phase three involved further efforts to improve the purity of the UF4 feed material and an alteration in the shape of uranium metal, now produced as a solid cylinder of about 5 centimeter diameter and similar length and weighing about 1.5kg.[23]
Key Sources:
[20] Consolidated Report on the First Two IAEA Inspections Under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991) of Iraqi Nuclear Capabilities, UN Doc S/22788, 11 July 1991, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/S_22788.pdf>; IAEA Iraq Action Team, "Fact Sheet: Iraq's Nuclear Weapons Programme," IAEA, 25 April 2002, <http://www.iaea.or/at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
nwpz.html>; "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch,
<http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
[21] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme."
[22] Report on the 25th IAEA On-Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), UN Doc S/1994/1001, 26 August 1994, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/s_1994_1001.pdf>.
[23] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme."
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Name: Facility 212
Other Names: Wax Plant
Address/Location: Al-Jesira Facility
Subordinate to: PC-3
Size: Production-scale plant, with capacity of 23.7kg UO2/hr
Primary Function: UO2 production
Description:
Iraq constructed Facility #212 between July 1985 and July 1989 using the designs provided by an unnamed Brazilian company. The facility was designed to process U2O8 and U3O8 into UO2 with a capacity of 23.7kg UO2/hr.[24] The facility began operating in February 1990 and continued to operate until December 1990, when all the available yellowcake from Al-Qaim at that time was processed. Facility #212 produced 420 drums with 99,457kg UO2 (86,607kg uranium), of which five (drums) were used for UCl4 production in the adjacent facility #244; four were used for UCl4 production in Al-Tuwaitha's Chemical Engineering Laboratory; and two were used for uranium metal production in Al-Tuwaitha's Experimental Research Laboratory for Fuel Fabrication.[25]
Open source and IAEA inspection reports note that coalition air strikes "heavily damaged" the UO2 uranium purification facility, which presumably would be facility #212.[26] However, other open source reports state that when coalition forces bombed the facility in 1991, the critical areas of Facility #212 were not damaged, and Facility #244 suffered only 20% total damage.[27] Prior to the Gulf War, Western intelligence sources did not consider the Al-Jesira facility to be associated with Iraq's nuclear weapons program, and consequently it did not sustain significant damage during air strikes.
Key Sources:
[24] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch, <http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Joseph Cirincione, "Iraq: Nuclear Infrastructure," The Three Hard Cases (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2002), p. 290; and Report on the Third On-site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), UN Doc S/22837, 25 July 1991, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/reports/
S_22837.pdf>.
[27] "Iraq Facilities," CIA Gulflink, 31 May 1996, <http://www.fas.org/irp/gulf/cia/960531/65563_01.htm>.
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Name: Facility 244
Address/Location: Al-Jesira Facility
Subordinate to: PC-3
Size: Industrial-scale plant with two production lines, each with capacity of 150kg per line per day
Primary Function: UCl4 production
Description:
Iraq began constructing the UCl4 production plant in February 1988 based on the design of the UCl4 pilot plant at Al-Tuwaitha (Building 85). Facility 244 operations commenced on 1 February 1990.[28] It processed UO2 from the adjacent facility (#212) into UCl4. The estimated capacity of each of the two production lines of the UCl4 facility was reported by Iraq to be 150kg per line per day, however only 1.2 tons of UCl4 (containing 901kg of uranium) total was produced by one line during the two months of operations during 1990.[29] Facility #244 suffered 20% total damage during coalition air strikes.[30]
Key Sources:
[28] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch, <http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
[29] Report on the Fourth IAEA On-Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), UN Doc S/22986, 28 August 1991, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/s_22986.pdf>; "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch,
<http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
[30] "Iraq Facilities," CIA Gulflink, 31 May 1996, <http://www.fas.org/irp/gulf/cia/960531/65563_01.htm>.
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Name: Tuwaitha Chemical Laboratories
Other Names: Isotope Production Laboratory
Address/Location: Building 15B
Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Subordinate to: Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Size: Multiple laboratories
Primary Function: Uranium metal, UCl4 and UF6 production
Description:
The Tuwaitha Chemical Laboratories, located in Building 15B, were involved in processing Brazilian-origin UO2 into UCl4, uranium metal and UF6.[31]
Iraq began using the Chemical Laboratories in Building 15B in the middle of 1986 to develop its capabilities with respect to production and casting of uranium metal. Uranium metal can be used in advanced enrichment processes, such as AVLIS or plasma, as well as for fuel fabrication. The first stage continued through March 1987 and consisted of some 30 experiments that involved the magnothermic reduction of UF4. The first stage of experiments resulted in the production of discs of uranium metal of 8-cm diameter, having individual weights, ranging from 600 to 900 grams. The second and third stages of uranium metal production experiments were carried out in the laboratories of Building 73 beginning in the early months of 1988.[32]
In mid-1986, Iraq constructed Project 226, based on rotary kiln technology. The declared purpose of Project 226 was to assure a secure supply of UF4 for eventual conversion to UF6 to satisfy the needs of the gas centrifuge enrichment program. The project used Brazilian-origin UO2 as a feedstock, which was reacted with Freon-12 to produce UF4. During the Project's operation, until 1991, some 250kg of UF4 were produced.[33]
Additionally, in 1986 Iraq constructed a laboratory-scale boat-type reactor unit to produce UF6. The unit had a capacity of 50g UF6 per batch, and it was operated in Building 15B until mid-1987, when it was transferred to Rashidiya.[34]
Key Sources:
[31] Consolidated Report on the First Two IAEA Inspections Under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991) of Iraqi Nuclear Capabilities, UN Doc S/22788, 11 July 1991, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/S_22788.pdf>; IAEA Iraq Action Team, "Fact Sheet: Iraq's Nuclear Weapons Programme," IAEA, 25 April 2002, <http://www.iaea.or/at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
nwpz.html>; "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme," Attachment 1 to the Fourth Consolidated Report of the Director General of the IAEA, UN Doc S/1997/779, 8 October 1997, Iraq Watch,
<http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/IAEA/s-1997-779-att-1.htm>.
[32] "The Components of Iraq's clandestine nuclear programme."
[33] Ibid.
[34] Ibid.
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Updated December 2003 |
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