Missing Uranium from The Congo

Missing Uranium from The Congo

news.bbc.co.uk

The Democratic Republic of Congo's top atomic energy official is being held over allegations of uranium smuggling.

A large quantity of uranium is reported to have gone missing in recent years, although state prosecutor Tshimanga Mukeba did not reveal any figures.

To thank and reward Congo, the Americans funded the creation of Congo's nuclear centre in 1958.It was established only for research purpose. In the late 1970s, a bar of uranium disappeared from the from the centre, raising concerns.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.globalsecurity.org
www.alertnet.org
www.minesandcommunities.org
www.afrol.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
The scariest story of the year?

It amazes me when I here stories like this! With all the publics attention focused on Iran and North Korea's nuclear programm stories like this seem to be kept small and unimportant.

Imagine the exact same story but instead of the Congo in the title in read "Missing Uranium from Iran". I image bombs falling all over the place in Iran and the story featuring every 30mins on mainstream news.

The biggest conundrum is why is the world focused on countries like Iran who have nuclear ambitions for THEMSELVES. When there are very corruption riddled countries like the congo smuggling Uranium out of the country.

Other thing is take note who gave The Congo the research capability of Uranium in the first place. This inconsistancy in American forign policy is criminal.



news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 8/3/07 by Jimmy1880]

These small stories seem to be the most scary.

They never seem to get followed up and go to the wayside.

Just for fun, did a quick google on 'missing uranium' and got over one million hits.

Some may be redundant or overlapping, but even a small percentage of actual events is scary in itself.

Oh god..It's another "Yellowcake from Niger" thing again.....

Taking bet's now, good odd's that this "missing uranium" can be "traced" to Iran.....

i dont think theres anything inconsistent with US foriegn policy. The Congo accepted free-market capitalism and opened up there country to foreign capital penetration and terms completely favorable to US foreign investors.

Why attack or saction a country that is giving you everything you want at the lowest possible cost to you?

I love how we're always involved. It's not as bad as Russia, I remember seeing a documentary where they had barrels and barrels of uranium stored in wooden sheds. I was like.... are you serious?

Originally posted by Jimmy1880

Imagine the exact same story but instead of the Congo in the title in read "Missing Uranium from Iran". I image bombs falling all over the place in Iran and the story featuring every 30mins on mainstream news.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 8/3/07 by Jimmy1880]

I'm thinking Iran kinda wants all the uranium it can make/get right now!?

Still, this stuff on sale is worrying. Any one remember bout USSR losing material from poorly guarded power stations after they had been decommissioned?

So some uranium has gone missing.

Nowhere in the referenced article did it allege that the missing material was either Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) required to build a nuclear weapon, nor even Lowly Enriched Uranium (LEU) as would be used in a nuclear reactor.

Although refined uranium ore may be the starting point for either LEU or HEU (in general, although the quality of the ore itself is a significant factor), there are many difficult and highly technical steps to either goal.

On this matter, I think we can loosen our tinfoil hats a bit, take a deep breath and relax.