Global Security Newswire

Iraq is seeking approval from the United Nations and help from France to rebuild at least one nuclear reactor destroyed in the Gulf War of the early 1990s, the London Guardian reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 20, 2008).

"We are cooperating with the [International Atomic Energy Agency] and expanding and defining areas of research where we can implement nuclear technology for peaceful means," Iraqi Science and Technology Minister Raid Fahmi said. "After the dissolution [of the Hussein regime] we did not have an industry, but we have become more and more conscious of the need for nuclear technology. This was raised several months ago with the relevant bodies."

Iraq is considering "only peaceful applications" for a potential nuclear program, "including the health sector, agriculture ... and water treatment," Fahmi said. The effort would focus solely on research as it gained its footing, but it would eventually aim to supply water and electricity to Iraq's residents.

Still, violence and instability still rampant in the country have prompted concerns about the security of a possible Iraqi nuclear program. In addition, fears have persisted about radioactive uranium yellowcake and other nuclear materials that went missing from Iraq's Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center after the nation was invaded in 2003 (see GSN, July 9, 2008).

"We lost some control and there was a lot of looting," nuclear engineer Adnan Jarjies said. "Some of the equipment was looted from this facility and we have to (rehabilitate) it again."

Iraq once had three reactors at Tuwaitha. Israel destroyed one of the plants in a 1981 airstrike, while the United Kingdom and the United States finished off the other two during the first Gulf War.

The decommissioning of Iraq's nuclear assets began in 2003. The effort has been led by Iraqi scientists with support from the U.N. nuclear watchdog and other international organizations (Martin Chulov, London Guardian, Oct. 27).