We found "yellow cake" today. If you want the science follow this link, but it's typically 60-80% uranium and used in part of the production chain for nuclear power or nuclear bombs - if you want the reality keep reading.
We had heard the stories of people dumping barrels of yellow cake and using the barrels for washing, storing food and water and any number of other things. In an area of grinding poverty a free barrel is a valuable thing. We had read stories about the looters who stripped the Al-Tuwaitha facility within days and they are still there, taking down buildings tile by tile and brick by brick. It's convenient to punt the blame in that direction - but ask yourself what would you do. Years of poverty and oppression and now you have a chance to grab a couple of handfuls of something to make life just that fraction easier? Yeah, you would do it too, right?
I guess if someone had told you it would leave you with radiation burns, bleeding gums and possibly even kill you, you might think twice though. But of course no one told them that.
We didn't find a barrel - we found the yellow cake in a huge canister the size of a small car dumped on open ground between a village and Al-Tuwaitha. If the IAEA had been allowed to tour the area outside the plant to any significant degree they would have recognised the canister as it is designed with the express purpose of mixing yellow cake. They could have taken it away. Instead it's been lying there for about 20 days according to the locals.
We found it because we were talking to a US patrol and he mentioned in passing that there was uranium "two clicks" (2km) up the road. How do you know, I asked. He waved the back of his hand towards an elderly man in the street - he told me, he replied, and then turned away and carried on drinking his Pepsi. What are you going to do about it, we asked. We're not here to deal with that, he said.
Posted by | Permalink | Discuss | TrackBack