IRAQ: STATUS OF BAGHDAD'S URANIUM ENRICHMENT PRORAM

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05607120
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: October 23, 2023
• Document Release Date: August 4, 2023
• Case Number: F-2015-02309
• Publication Date: March 12, 2002

Approved for Release: 2023/07/10 C05607120
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Iraq: Status of Baghdad's Uranium Enrichment Program
Iraq could develop enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon by mid-to-late decade, judging from
the capabilities of its uranium enrichment program before Desert Storm and subsequent procurement
activities. Iraq's uranium enrichment efforts were
halted by the onset of hostilities, although small-scale experimentation and theoretical research may have
continued. Before Desert Storm, however, Iraq had explored numerous schemes to produce highly
enriched uranium (HEU), including electromagnetic isotope separation, gas centrifuge, gaseous diffusion,
laser, chemical, and aerodynamic techniques
Electromagnetic Isotope Separation (EMIS) Program
Iraq's prewar nuclear weapons program was most successful at enriching uranium using the EMIS
process, an antiquated technique similar to that used in the Manhattan Project. This largely indigenous
effort was the leading candidate for fissile material production at the time of the Gulf war.
A large portion of Iraq's known EMIS equipment was either destroyed in coalition bombings or by
UNSCOM inspectors or was tagged by inspectors for future monitoring
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Gas Centrifuge Program
At the time of the Gulf war, Iraq's centrifuge program probably was on track to produce enough
HEU for a weapon by the mid-to-late 1990s. UNSCOM inspection reports indicate that this
effort was a subgroup of PC-3, the codename for Iraq's nuclear weapons program, located at
Rashdiyah. When Desert Storm started, the program was poised to mass produce centrifuges and
steps were being made to establish a pilot-scale enrichment plant.
Iraq's progress on gas centrifuge development is inconsistent with its claimed progress in feed
material production. Iraq says it has produced only a few kilograms of uranium hexaflouride,
enough for research but not weapons production, but the status of the centrifuge program as
reported by UN inspectors indicates Iraq may be hiding feed material and feed material
production facilities.
Iraq pursued a
range of centrifuge designs before the war, from domestically produced Beams-type oil-bearing
centrifuges and Zippe-type magnetic-bearing centrifuges to more advanced models purchased
abroad based on the URENCO GI design utilizing maraging steel and carbon fiber rotor
technology. The,Iraqis also studied and had the designs for the more advanced supercritical
URENCO � and TC1 1 mndelc hiit are not believed to have actually acquired or built any units
themselves.
Iraq may be attempting to reconstitute its gas centrifuge enrichment program. Since intrusive
inspections ended in 1998, Iraq has increased efforts to buy critical dual-use items that could support a
gas centrifuge program, including aluminum tubes suitable for rotors, magnets, machine tools, essential
chemicals, and centrifuge cascade related equipment.
-- Iraq has been seeking to procure thousands of aluminum tubes suitable for use as gas centrifuges
Iraq would need to construct a facility using approximately 10,000 gas centrifuges of the type
that we assess the aluminum tubes are suitable for before it could produce enough HEU for one
weapon annually.
Using aluminum in a centrifuge effort would be a major step back from the maraging steel and
carbon fiber machines Iraq had pursued in its prewar effort, perhaps reflecting the lois of key
personnel, procurement channels, and manufacturing capabilities. Iraq has been willing to use
inefficient and outdated enrichment technologies before, such as in its prewar EMIS effort.
Gaseous Diffusion Program
According to Iraqi declarations, Baghdad initiated work on developing barrier tubes for a gaseous
diffusion program in 1982. After initial separation experiments failed, all large-scale work on gaseous
diffusion was halted in the late 1980s and resources directed toward the centrifuge program.
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-- The significant manufacturing and power infrastructure required for a diffusion plant also made
the gas centrifuge method a more attractive alternative.
Baghdad would face significant
hurdles in obtaining the specialized equipment needed to build a plant large enough to support a
weapons program
Laser Isotope Separation Program
Iraq claimed to have started research in 1981 on laser isotope separation. The initial goals of the
program were to demonstrate on a laboratory scale the known methods of atomic vapor laser isotope
separation and of molecular laser isotope separation. Iraqi researchers claimed to have encountered
extensive technical difficulties with both techniques and said they were never able to achieve any
significant enrichment. Iraqi attempts to use laser techniques to enrich uradum were largely halted by the
end of 1987, although small-scale theoretical research may have continued.
Chemical Isotope Separation Program
In the mid-1980s Iraq investigated two types of chemical processes for enriching uranium, the French
chemical exchange process (CHEMDO and the Japanese ion exchange chromatography process.
this pilot plant had a very limited
production capability, about several kilograms per year of low enriched product, and appears to have been
destroyed in the bombing of Tuwaitha. UNSCOM inspectors were unable to account for maior
components of the plant, and Iraq may have been able to salvage parts of the facility.
Aerodynamic Isotope Separation Program
Iraq may have conducted preliminary research of the aerodynamic uranium enrichment technique
known as the Becker nozzle process at Timmitha in the mid-IC/Rik The effnrt nnnenrc tn have been
abandoned sometime in the late 1980s
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