The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org/web/20040504132103/http://slate.msn.com:80/id/2085848
  MSN Home  |  My MSN  |  Hotmail  |  Shopping  |  Money  |  People & Chat
Sign in with your .NET Passport
Web Search: 

 
Print | E-mail | Discuss | Alerts | Newsletters | RSS | Help   
Home
News & Politics
Campaign 2004
Arts & Life
Business
Sports
Technology
Travel & Food
Slate on NPR
Output Options
About Us

Search Slate

Advanced Search



MSN Shopping
explainer    Answers to your questions about the news.

What Is Yellowcake, Anyway?
Milled uranium oxide, yours for $10.90 a pound.
By Brendan I. Koerner
Posted Friday, July 18, 2003, at 2:05 PM PT

CIA Director George Tenet testified Wednesday before a Senate panel that's looking into why the agency initially believed a fishy report that Iraq had tried to buy 500 metric tons of uranium "yellowcake." What is yellowcake, exactly?

Yellowcake is milled uranium oxide, known to chemists as U3O8. When uranium ore comes out of the mine, it actually contains fairly little of the precious radioactive element. Though some mines in Canada, the world's leading uranium producer, are now yielding ore that contains 20 percent uranium, lower purity levels are more typical. Ore that contains less than 1 percent uranium is not unusual.

The milling process gets rid of the useless minerals that dominate the ore. First, raw ore is passed through a series of industrial-sized crushers and grinders. The resulting "pulped" ore is then bathed in sulphuric acid, a process which leaches out the uranium. After some drying and filtering, the end product is yellowcake: a coarse, oxidized powder that is often yellow in color but can also have a red or gray tint, depending on the number and type of impurities that may remain. Ideally, a drum of yellowcake should wind up looking something like this.

Yellowcake is a first step toward enriched uranium, but it's a long way from being weapons-grade. The powder must still be converted into uranium hexafluoride before it can be enriched, the process that makes the sort of uranium used by nuclear power plants and bomb-makers alike. Because UF6 can be easily turned into a gas, it is ideal for enrichment, which must be done in a gaseous state.

Despite all the hubbub over Saddam Hussein's efforts to buy yellowcake, the stuff is by no means a rare commodity. Worldwide production is currently around 64,000 tons per year, and that's sure to rise as Central Asian nations like Kazakhstan begin to expand their uranium-mining industries. (By comparison, about 45,000 tons of tungsten, vital to the steel industry, is produced annually.) The competition has depressed yellowcake prices just a tad in recent months; a pound now costs about $10.90, down a dime from what it was trading for this spring.

Next question?

Explainer thanks Matthew Bunn of Harvard University.

Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired and a fellow at the New America Foundation.

Slate
More explainer
Who Protects David Souter?
Do Supreme Court justices have bodyguards?
posted May 3, 2004
Brendan I. Koerner

Where Did We Get Our Oath?
The origin of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
posted April 30, 2004
Brendan I. Koerner

Why Is Najaf So Holy?
Because of the man who's buried in Ali's tomb.
posted April 27, 2004
Brendan I. Koerner

What's With Our 15 Intel Agencies?
The CIA, we know. But what are the other 14?
posted April 26, 2004
Eric Umansky

How Do They Measure Calories?
Did McDonald's have to torch its new Happy Meal?
posted April 21, 2004
Sam Schechner

Search for more Explainer in our archive.

What did you think of this article?
Join the Fray, our reader discussion forum
POST A MESSAGE READ MESSAGES


Arts & Life
Shopping: Admit it. You need a guru.


The Slate Guide to Gurus
Do you need a guru? Of course you do! But how can you possibly find the right one for you? After all, everyone's ... More
News & Politics
Explainer: Who’s Protecting David Souter?


Who Protects David Souter?
Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter was attacked by several youths on Friday night, as he... More
Business
Ad Report Card: What Does KFC Stand For?


Alphabet Soup
The recent KFC ads are unremarkable. Mostly the usual stuff: shots of hungry men digging bi... More


TOP HEADLINES
MSNBC
Abuse probes include other Iraq facilities

Shiite militia shells U.S., Bulgarian troops

Ex-hostage says he's 'feeling well'

WP: U.S. sought to boost prison training

    Try MSN Internet Software for FREE!
    MSN Home | My MSN | Hotmail | Shopping | Money | People & Chat | SearchFeedback | Help   
    ©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use Advertise TRUSTe Approved Privacy Statement GetNetWise Anti-Spam Policy