Iran in scramble for fresh uranium supplies

[sabra]

Source: Sunday Times UK

Western powers believe that Iran is running short of the raw material required to manufacture nuclear weapons, triggering an international race to prevent it from importing more, The Times has learnt.

Diplomatic sources believe that Iran’s stockpile of yellow cake uran- ium, produced from uranium ore, is close to running out and could be depleted entirely within months. Countries including Britain, the US, France and Germany, have started intensive diplomatic efforts to dissuade major uranium producers from selling to Iran.

Before Christmas, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office sent out a confidential request for its diplomats in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Brazil, all major uranium producers, to lobby governments not to sell uranium products, specifically yellow cake, to Iran.

Sources told The Times that Iran had now nearly exhausted its stock of yellow cake, acquired from South Africa in the 1970s. Iran is developing its own mining operations but these are too small to support a sustained nuclear programme.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5576589.ece

[Mnemosyne]

1. Maybe Val Plame should have been kept on her mission. assholes. n/t

[bemildred]

2. Last I heard, Iran had it's own, was hoping to sell it to other parties.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/mines.htm

[Chulanowa]

3. And there's nothing worse than stale uranium, am I right y'all? n/t

[stillcool]

4. hmmm..this looks familiar

[ohio2007]

5. unrelated news from the Persian Gulf state of Kuwait

Kuwait Purchases 5.4 Million Doses of Emergency Nuclear Radiation Drug from Nukepills.com

Nukepills.com today announced the sale of 180,000 units (5.4 million doses) of ThyroShield™ Potassium Iodide to the Kuwait Ministry of Health. Worth approximately $1.4 million, the sale was brokered by Nukepills.com and signifies Kuwait's proactive course in protecting its citizens during a nuclear radiation emergency.

snip

Nukepills.com is an Internet-based supplier of radiation emergency products that protect against dirty bomb radiation, nuclear reactor accidents and nuclear weapon fallout, and are used for radiation therapy/decontamination in hospitals
snip
http://beeqube.com/article/kuwa