I'll have another piece of yellowcake, please
This article shrilly declaring Iran's intention, er, I mean, its possible capability for building bombs to destroy the west, ah, um, er, I mean, building bombs, mentions that they have begun "processing 37 tons of uranium yellowcake." Incidentally, this, as I remember from watching the moveon.org video, is the same substance used to indict Saddam Hussein over a nuclear weapons program.

But what the hell is yellowcake? Wikipedia has it as an intermediary product between milled uranium ore and fuel that can be used in reactors or weapons. It is designated by the formula U₃O₈, and is known also as uranium oxide. However, the resemblances between it and its namesake are uncanny.

Yellowcake is generally processed in one of two ways. For fuel preparation, it is converted into purified uranium dioxide (UO₂). For uranium enrichment, it is converted into uranium hexafluoride gas (UF₆), which is then used to further enrich U-235 content to 3% for commercial reactors, or 50% - 90% for nuclear submarines.

Obviously the U.S. Department of State is not happy with Iran right now.
- posted by frank crist @ 9:13 PM