Yellow cake uranium found dumped in Libyan desert

Telegraph:

Some are marked radioactive, as were the open plastic bags alongside.

The powder they contain appears to be yellowcake uranium from neighbouring Niger. Yet when they were discovered by advancing rebel forces last week, they were abandoned, in tumbledown warehouses protected only by a low wall.

Niger mines yellowcake under a strict security regime designed to ensure none of it falls into the hands of illicit networks. But post-Gaddafi Libyaaffords little or no protection to this vast haul of material, which if refined to high levels of purity is the essential element of a nuclear bomb.

The Daily Telegraph reported last week that Iran, which is pursuing underground nuclear programmes, had joined in the looting of Libyan weaponry.

Despite the dangers, international atomic agencies and Libya’s rebels say it will take weeks to put safeguards in place.

... 

So far around 10,000 barrels have been found, although all of them have not been opened to date.  They apparently had been sitting there for some time.  Getting them under control and out of the hands of Iran should be a top priority.  I would favor letting US troops secure the cache until the Libyans can take control.