Iraqi Yellowcake Goes to Canada

Via The Globe and Mail (Canada) -

Almost everything about the deal made for spy novel fodder: a multimillion-dollar shipment of yellowcake uranium, the final vestiges of Saddam Hussein's once-hyped nuclear program, quietly moved from Baghdad to Montreal via a controversial U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean, all done under orders of absolute secrecy.

But for all the cloak and dagger, it was a relatively straightforward transaction. “It was business as usual,” Transport Canada spokeswoman Marie-Anyk Côté said of the deal that saw Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp. purchase some 550 tonnes of yellowcake, which is used to make fuel for nuclear reactors. The volatile, but often transported, cargo arrived in Montreal by ship on Saturday.

Although Cameco says the U.S. military, which helped organize the sale, asked for the deal to be done in secrecy, the Canadian government agency that monitors such transports was less paranoid.

Ms. Côté said Transport Canada gave a lot of thought to where the shipment was coming from – perhaps the most volatile place in the world.

However, if the agency did have concerns, she added, the shipment wouldn't have gone ahead.

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Although the deal is technically with the Iraqi government – Baghdad gets the money – Washington had a significant driving role in the deal.

The yellowcake, all of which is believed to date before 1991, originated at the Tuwaitha nuclear complex south of Baghdad. Military and diplomatic officials initially considered sending the uranium to Kuwait's port on the Persian Gulf, but such a route would pass through Shia-controlled areas of Iraq within close proximity to insurgents. Kuwait was also reluctant to proceed with such a move.

After Cameco secured the contract to buy the uranium, U.S.-led crews began moving the yellowcake from corroded, decades-old compartments to about 3,500 secure barrels. In April, truck convoys moved the shipment from Tuwaitha to Baghdad's international airport.

It took two weeks and 37 flights in May to transport the cargo to a U.S. military base in Diego Garcia, a tiny British territory in the Indian Ocean, before it was shipped to Montreal.

“This is our business. Buying and selling uranium, this is what we do,” Mr. Krahn said in an interview.

Cameco is well known in international security circles. It also has a deal to buy uranium that comes from decommissioned nuclear warheads in Russia.

Cameco would not disclose how much it is paying for the 550 tonnes of Iraqi “yellowcake,” but Mr. Krahn indicated Cameco would make money on the deal. “We do these transactions at a profit,” he said.