The Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility near Kut, Iraq, contains the remains of nuclear reactors bombed by Israel in 1981 and the United States in 1991. It was used as a storage facility for spent reactor fuel and industrial and medical wastes. The radioactive material would not be useful for a fission bomb, but could be used in a dirty bomb. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the facility was heavily looted by hundreds of Iraqis, though it is unclear what was taken. Kūt (كوت; also known as Kut-Al-Imara and Kut El Amara) is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 100 miles south east of Baghdad, at 32. ... A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate (as opposed to a nuclear explosion, where the chain reaction occurs in a split second). ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Russian fissile material storage facility Underground Radioactive Material Sign Radioactive waste is waste material containing radioactive chemical elements that does not have a practical purpose. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... The term dirty bomb is most often used to refer to a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD), a radiological weapon which combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. ... This article covers invasion specifics. ...

The exterior was designed by Ambre and Melissa Hookenvaghen of Denmark. It has a bright purple/green facade, but with many windows...making it an easy target for enemy penetration. There is a nice rose bush by the door...rose's are dead, though. DEATH. And, the door is approximately 15 feet, 10 inches tall - easily accessible for anyone.. even a giraffe. There are no public restrooms. There is, however, a public cafeteria. They serve pita-bread sandwiches and bologna and sourkraut soup. To enter, you must be Jewish. An authentic Latke is presented as your pass. For respect, please wear a yarmulke (bright blue). Because of Baghadadian bylaws, this facility is not required to be handicap-accessible. The roof is slightly sloped with a depression of 38.7654321987654321 degrees. This is not an animal friendly site. Our researchers are prone to take any animals and turn them into nuclear energy for Baghdadian society.

The facility is surrounded by a sand berm four miles (6.4 km) around and 160 feet (50 m) high, and contained the French-built research reactor Osiraq, destroyed by Israel in 1981 before it went online. A berm is a level space or shelf separating two features. ... A mile is any of several units of distance, or, in physics terminology, of length. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer, symbol: km) is a unit of length equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words khilia = thousand and metro = count/measure). ... A foot (plural: feet) is a non-SI unit of distance or length, measuring around a third of a metre. ... The metre, or meter, is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International dUnités). ... Osiraq was a 40 MW light water nuclear materials testing reactor (MTR) in Iraq. ...

On May 3, 2003, a detachment of U.S. Special Forces led by United States Navy Commander David Beckett and eight nuclear experts from the United States Department of Defense's Direct Support Team conducted a survey of the facility, finding the looting, similar to the situation in the nearby Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center. The United States Special Operations Forces is the official category where the U.S. Department of Defense lists the U.S. military units that have a training specialization in unconventional warfare and special operations. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... Insignia of a United States Navy Commander Commander is a military rank used in many navies but not generally in armies or air forces. ... The United States Department of Defense, abbreviated as DoD or DOD and sometimes called the Defense Department is a civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government. ...

During the initial months of the occupation, Tuwaitha was protected by American forces and administered by contractors from the Raytheon Corporation. Complete control of the facility was turned over to Iraqi authorities in the Summer of 2004. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) is a major United States military contractor based in Waltham, Massachusetts. ...

See also

• Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction

The possibility that the government of Iraq used, possessed or intend to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was a major international issue in the last dozen years. ...

External links and references

• Iraqi Nuclear Site Is Found Looted: U.S. Team Unable to Determine Whether Deadly Materials Are Missing, Washington Post, May 4, 2003