IRAQ: INSPECTORS FROM IAEA INSPECT THE SITE OF THE LOOTED TUWAITHA NUCLEAR COMPOUND

Record ID: 647859

  • Title: IRAQ: INSPECTORS FROM IAEA INSPECT THE SITE OF THE LOOTED TUWAITHA NUCLEAR COMPOUND
  • Date: 10th June 2003
  • Summary: (W3) TUWAITHA, 15 KM SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 10, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV SCHOOL CHILDREN GOING TO SCHOOL AND WAVING TO INSPECTORS 0.04 2. LV OF IAEA (INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY) INSPECTORS WEARING WHITE PROTECTIVE SUITS, INSPECTING IRAQ'S MAIN TUWAITHA NUCLEAR SITE AND AMERICAN SOLDIERS WAVING TO CHILDREN 0.10 3. SLV/SV CHILDREN WALKING TO SCHOOL/INSPECTORS WAVING AT SCHOOL CHILDREN (3 SHOTS) 0.26 4. MCU (Arabic) QASIM HAMZA A SCHOOLBOY, SAYING: "I can't walk steadily, I have a continuous headache, I am always vomiting at night." 0.34 5. LV SCHOOL CHILDREN HEADING TO THEIR SCHOOL AND BEHIND THEM A SITE WHERE INSPECTION IS BEING DONE / TWO U.S. SOLDIERS 0.40 6. LV EXTERIOR OF THE PRIMARY OMAR AL-MUKHTAR SCHOOL/PUPILS IN THE SCHOOL YARD 0.45 7. SV ENTRANCE TO SCHOOL AND IRAQI FLAG 0.50 8. MCU (Arabic) KARIM THEDHAN, THE SCHOOL HEADMASTER SAYING: "Half of pupils are not attending school as some families say that they won't send their children as long as there is pollution." 1.03 9. LV THE BELL RINGING, THE SCHOOL CHILDREN LEAVING SCHOOL 1.15 10. LV OF IAEA TEAM MEMBERS AT SITE (2 SHOTS) 1.30 11. LV OF U.S. SOLDIERS 1.35 12. LV IAEA TEAM MEMBERS WALKING 1.40 13. LV U.S. VEHICLE DRIVING OFF 1.48 14. GV OF THE SITE 1.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA8X51S5BFMYOHMVQDFQGCEV74Q
  • Story Text: Children living close to the looted Tuwaitha nuclear
    compound are staying away from their primary school nearby
    fearing disease. Inspectors from the International Atomic
    Energy Agency (IAEA) have continued inspecting the site for
    the third day in a row.



    A number of children from Omar al-Mukhtar school are
    staying at home, fearing spread of disease since the Tuwaitha
    nuclear compound 12 miles south of Baghdad was looted after
    the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Local residents are
    concerned that substances previously kept in barrels in the
    plant but were looted, could be harmful.

    "Half of the pupils are not attending school as some
    families say that they won't send their children as long as
    there is pollution," said Karim Thedhan, the school
    headmaster.

    U.N. nuclear experts in white protective suits surveyed a
    looted storage facility at Iraq's main nuclear site on Monday
    (June 9).

    The Seven-member International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA)
    team was working under tight U.S. military escort at the vast
    Tuwaitha site close to Baghdad.

    The IAEA team arrived in Iraq on Friday (June 6) on a
    limited mission to check on looting from the site where
    low-enriched uranium, known as yellow-cake, was stored in
    barrels.

    Looters emptied some of the barrels and sold them to local
    people for 2 U.S. dollars each.

    U.S. forces say they paid 3 U.S. dollars a barrel to
    recover the stolen items and five radiological devices. Some
    locals who unwittingly washed clothes or stored food in the
    barrels say children are falling ill, but IAEA and U.S.

    military officials say they believe the health risk is low.

    Local resident Salman Mousa says some people developed
    skin diseases as a result of contact with the contaminated
    barrels.

    The IAEA team is operating under strict guidelines from
    the Pentagon, which does not want to open the door to a
    renewed role for the agency in postwar Iraq.

    jm/em

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