US Removes Last of Saddam's Uranium From Iraq

A secret US mission to remove 550 metric tons of concentrated uranium known as “yellowcake” from Iraq came to a close yesterday as the material arrived in Canada, AP reports. In an operation that quelled concerns over the yellowcake falling into insurgency hands, 37 flights took the remainder of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program to a British territory in the Indian Ocean before it was shipped 8,500 miles to Montreal.

“Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq,” said a US official. Seeking a place to deposit the yellowcake, the Iraqi government found a buyer in a Canadian company, which bought the material for “tens of millions of dollars,” the official said. The company says it will use its purchase “to produce clean electricity.” (More uranium stories.)