In Focus :: IAEA and Iraq
News Update on IAEA & Iraq
Chronology of IAEA Inspections & Key Events
(February 2003)
28, Friday: IAEA Surveys Area, Missile Destruction to Start. One IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey in an area 10km north of Baghdad. UNMOVIC received a letter from Iraq indicating that they agree in principle to the UNMOVIC request to start destroying the Al Samoud 2 missiles and other associated items by the first of March.
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27, Thursday: Surveillance Operation Conducted, Inspectors Check Manufacturing Site. The first Mirage IV surveillance operation was conducted successfully yesterday, 26 February. One IAEA team inspected the State Establishment for Electrical Industries (SEEI), which is a small motors and electrical appliances manufacturer in Baghdad. A second IAEA team performed a car-borne radiation survey in industrial areas about 90km west of Baghdad.
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26, Wednesday: IAEA Inspects Research Centre, Interviews Engineers. One IAEA team inspected the Ibn Al Beythar Research Centre in the Taji area north of Baghdad. This is a research centre for raw materials for the medical industry. A second IAEA team conducted two private interviews with engineers formerly associated with Iraq’s former gas centrifuge enrichment programme. A third IAEA team performed a car-borne radiation survey in the Zafaraniya area of Baghdad, which included several large industrial sites.
25, Tuesday: UN Teams Move to Destroy Shells, Inspect Multiple Sites. The destruction of mustard and 155mm artillery shells used for mustard gas at the Al Muthana site will resume tomorrow. The destruction process was temporarily halted due to technical problems. UNMOVIC teams performed inspections at multiple sites, including factories and warehouses.
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24, Monday: IAEA Surveys Area, Inspects Military Sites. One IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey in an area approximately 20km southwest of Baghdad. Two other IAEA teams inspected the following sites associated with missiles and small arms to investigate their use of high strength magnets: the Al-Midlad State Company (formerly Al Furat), 40km south of Baghdad, Al-Karama and the Al-Razzi State Company (formally Taji Laser), both 10km north of Baghdad, and Al-Yarmook, 42km north of Bagdhad.
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23, Sunday: IAEA Surveys Area. An IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey in the area of the Al Mutanna site.
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22, Saturday: IAEA Surveys Site, Checks Factory. One IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey in the area of the Yarmouk GE Site approximately 40km west of Baghdad. A second IAEA team inspected the Al Kadessiya General Establishment 35km south of Baghdad. A third IAEA team inspected the Al Nahrawan munitions factory, 25km east of Baghdad.
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21, Friday: IAEA Interviews Specialists. The IAEA interviewed two members of Iraq’s former gas centrifuge programme. One was an engineer and the other a magnet specialist
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20, Thursday: IAEA Teams Inspect Facilities, Perform Surveys. One IAEA team inspected flow-forming equipment at several facilities around Baghdad. These facilities were: Al Karama, the Samood Company, Ghraib and Ibn Al Haytham. The team also visited Shakyli Stores at Tuwaitha to inspect materials from Iraq’s past centrifuge programme. A second IAEA team had to break off a helicopter mission and return to the Rasheed Air Base airport due to bad weather. A third IAEA team inspected the Al Eyz Company, 20 km northwest of Baghdad, which produces printed circuit boards and telecommunications equipment. A fourth IAEA team performed a car-borne radiation survey of the ElBasel Company- ElNahrawan, the Sabaa (Seven) Nisan General Company, a residential complex for workers in the oil industry, the Department of Oil Truck Maintenance, and an air defence unit in an area 20km east of Baghdad.
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18, Tuesday: IAEA Interviews Scientists, Checks Facilities. The IAEA conducted two interviews in private, each with a scientist previously associated with Iraq's former gas centrifuge enrichment programme. One IAEA team inspected the Al Tahidi Company, an electronics facility east of Baghdad. A second IAEA team inspected the Al Naser Al Adheem General Company (formerly known as Daura SEHEE) in the Daura district of Baghdad. A third IAEA team performed a car-borne radiation survey in the Al Mansoor and Rashdiya districts of Baghdad.
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17, Monday: IAEA Interviews Engineer, Inspects Several Sites. The IAEA held a private interview with a Senior Engineer connected with Iraq's procurement history related to 81mm aluminum tubes. One IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey in the Samarra area, approximately 100 km northwest of Baghdad. A second IAEA team performed an inspection at Al Nida, a heavy industrial manufacturing plant in Baghdad. A third team performed a no notice inspection of Um Al Maarik, 50km south of Baghdad and then went onto Tho Al Fekar, 15km north of Baghdad, to inspect flow forming equipment and processes.
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16, Sunday: IAEA Teams Check Multiple Sites, Conduct Surveys. One IAEA team inspected power-generating capabilities in the Ramadi area. The team also inspected the Mechanical and Building and Civil Training Departments of Anbar University. A second IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey at the Amil facility 65km north of Baghdad. A third IAEA team moved a mobile air sampler from the Saddam GE Factory, 130km west of Baghdad, to Yarmook GE, an ammunitions factory, where they also performed an inspection. A fourth IAEA team participated in an air-borne Gamma survey to the south and west of Baghdad, utilizing a surveillance helicopter.
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15, Saturday: Four IAEA Teams Conduct Inspections. Two inspection teams inspected two facilities within the Tuwaitha site 20km south of Baghdad. The first team included nuclear experts experienced in rock climbing and inspected previously inaccessible underground chambers within the old Tamuz 1 reactor complex that had been destroyed by bombing in 1981. The second team inspected and made preparations for the removal of a small amount of natural uranium slurry, previously marked for removal in 1998, from a pit located within the facility. This action further refines the IAEA's knowledge of nuclear wastes in Iraq. A third IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey at the Radwan and Yarmouk facilites 50 km west of Baghdad. A fourth IAEA team inspected the Taji Engineering facility, an aircraft motor-refurbishing facility, 15 km north of Baghdad.
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14, Friday: UN Teams Seek Interview, Inspect Multiple Sites. UNMOVIC sought a private interview with a senior Iraqi scientist who declined to be interviewed under the UNMOVIC format. An UNMOVIC chemical team continued the process of destroying mustard from the artillery shells and containers. An UNMOVIC biological team performed an aerial inspection of the Chemical Corps School, located approximately 50 km west southwest of Baghdad. Two other biological teams visited four sites in and around Baghdad.
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14, Friday: IAEA Chief ElBaradei Briefs Security Council. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei briefed the Security Council 14 February on the status of IAEA nuclear inspections in Iraq. Saying inspections are intensifying and moving forward, he underlined the importance of "prompt, full and active cooperation by Iraq" to "speed up" the inspection process. His briefing followed a report to the Council by UN Chief Inspector Hans Blix.
Read ElBaradei Statement | Blix Statement.
13, Thursday: IAEA Interviews Engineer, Surveys Near Facilities. IAEA conducted an interview in private with an Iraqi Senior Engineer connected to Iraq’s utilization of Aluminium tubes.One IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey at the Saddam facility and in the Falluja area 50 km west of Baghdad. A second IAEA team performed an inspection at the Ibn Al-Haytham north of Baghdad.
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12, Wednesday: IAEA Interviews Scientist, Continues Sampling Campaigns. The IAEA conducted an interview in private with an Iraqi scientist connected to Iraq’s former centrifuge programme.One IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey and deployed an air sampler at a facility about 30km north of Baghdad. A second IAEA team deployed another air sampler and performed an inspection at a facility about 60km west of Baghdad. A third IAEA team held a meeting with a senior Iraqi diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) offices in Baghdad.
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11, Tuesday: IAEA Inspects Turwaitha, Performs Surveys. The IAEA held no-notice inspections at Tuwaitha, 15 km south of Baghdad today. Two mobile air samplers capable of measuring particulate nuclear matter have been deployed at suitable locations around Baghdad for the last four days. An IAEA team retrieved the two samplers and samples were taken. The samplers will be relocated in new positions tomorrow. Another IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey of two military bases and surrounding areas in an area 20km south of Baghdad.
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10, Monday: IAEA Chief "Cautiously Optimistic" After Baghdad Talks. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that two days of talks with senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad resulted in "good progress" on key issues, adding that he was "cautiously optimistic" over Iraq's commitment to full compliance with Security Council resolution 1441. He and UN Chief Inspector Hans Blix are set to brief the Security Council 14 February.
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10, Monday: IAEA Conducts No-Notice Inspections. The IAEA held no-notice inspections at two sites: Um Al Maarik and Badr State Establishment, 25 km south of Baghdad. The inspections were undertaken to establish the current disposition of machine tools monitored by the IAEA. Another IAEA team conducted a car-borne radiation survey along and near the Tigris River just south of Baghdad.
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9, Sunday: IAEA Teams Conduct Survey, Hold Technical Meetings. One IAEA team performed a mobile radiation survey in Baghdad. A second IAEA team participated in a technical meeting at the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad. The initial field trial of mobile air samplers continued.
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8, Saturday: IAEA Conducts Interview, Deploys Sampling Equipment. The IAEA conducted a private interview with a chemical engineer. No Iraqi witness was present during the interview, which lasted approximately two and a half hours. A broad range of technical matters was covered during the interview. One IAEA team performed a motorized radiation survey in the Baghdad area. A second IAEA team deployed two mobile air-sampling units at two locations in Baghdad. This deployment constitutes a field trial of the mobile units as another step in the re-installation of both fixed and mobile air samplers as part of wide-area environmental monitoring in Iraq.
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7, Friday: IAEA Conducts Interview with Iraqi Chemical Engineer. The IAEA conducted in the evening a private interview with an Iraqi chemical engineer. No Iraqi witness was present during the interview which lasted approximately two and a half hours.
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6, Thursday: IAEA Chief Heads to Baghdad for "Crucial" Talks Ahead of Next Security Council Briefing . IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei is heading to Baghdad for what he called a "crucial" round of talks with Iraqi officials. He and UN Chief Inspector Hans Blix are set to arrive in Baghdad 8 February, for two days of meetings. Dr. ElBaradei and Dr. Blix next brief the Security Council 14 February.
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6, Thursday: IAEA Continues Site Checks, Prepares Sampling Equipment. One IAEA team continued inspection at the Ashakyli Stores. A second IAEA team held meetings at the Iraqi Nuclear Monitoring Directorate (NMD). A third IAEA team monitored the transfer of several radioactive isotope sources from the former site of the Al Salam Company to a secure storage facility at Tuwaitha. A fourth IAEA team worked at the Canal Hotel base preparing mobile air sampling equipment for deployment in the field.
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5, Wednesday: IAEA Director General Attends Security Council Briefing. IAEA Director General ElBaradei attended the briefing to the Security Council by United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, who presented what he called "solid" evidence that showed Iraq still has not complied with resolutions calling for it to disarm. Iraq, in response, criticized the US case and denied it possessed weapons of mass destruction. UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said that he still believed war in Iraq was not inevitable but stressed that Baghdad must comply fully and proactively with Security Council demands.
Read Powell Statement | Iraq
Statement | Security
Council News | Annan
Remarks.
5, Wednesday: IAEA Checks Storage Sites, Meets with Iraq Officials. One IAEA team inspected the Ashakyli Stores south of Baghdad. A second IAEA team held meetings at the Iraqi Nuclear Monitoring Directorate (NMD). The IAEA also participated in an UNMOVIC inspection of the Institute of Lasers and Plasma Postgraduate Studies at the University of Baghdad.
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Advisory.
4, Tuesday: IAEA Teams Check Sites Near Baghdad. Two IAEA teams conducted two inspections. One team inspected the Al Mamoun plant of the Al Qa Qaa Establishment south of Baghdad. A second IAEA team, with support from UNMOVIC, inspected the former site of the Al Salam Company, formerly associated with biological weapons development, in the Salman Pak area south of Baghdad.
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Advisory.
3, Monday: IAEA Conducts Two Inspections. One team inspected the Ibn Al Hytham industrial manufacturing plant, including a facility formerly known as MIC stores, in the Taji area north of Baghdad. A second team performed a motorized radiation survey in areas south of Baghdad.
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Advisory.
3, Monday: IAEA, UN Chief Inspectors Going to Baghdad 8 February. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, who recently called for "quick progress" from Iraq on all fronts, and UN Chief Inspector Hans Blix are going to Baghdad 8 February for further talks with senior Iraqi officials. Top issues include Iraq's acceptance of surveillance flights, private interviews for scientists, and national legislation that would ban weapons of mass destruction. Dr. ElBaradei and Dr. Blix next brief the Security Council 14 February.
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Report.
2, Sunday: IAEA Checks Mine, Conducts Survey. Two IAEA teams flew by helicopter to the Akashat Phosphate Mine in western Iraq. One team met the facility staff and inspected the area around the mine. The second team performed a mobile radiation survey.
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Advisory.
1, Saturday: Three IAEA Teams Conduct Inspections. One team performed an inspection at the Tho Al Fiker industrial machining and manufacturing facility north of Baghdad. A second team performed a motorized radiation survey southeast of Baghdad. A third IAEA team inspected the Colleges of Science and Engineering at Saddam University in Baghdad.
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Briefing.
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