Petrochemical Project 3 (PC-3)
The nuclear weapons project known as Petrochemical Project 3 (PC-3) was split off from the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) in the late 1980's and placed under the direct control of Hussein Kamel, then Minister of Industry and Military Industrialization. It is estimated that as of 1991 the size of the combined IAEC and PC-3 was about 7000 people. PC-3 was much larger than the IAEC, which before PC-3 was formed numbered only about 2000 people.
Projects and organizations managed by PC-3 as of late July 1991 included:
- Project 212, also known as the al-Jazira factory located near al-Mosul, was designed to produce yellow cake from uranium ore received from Akashat.
- Project 409, also known as the Al-Rabiya factory located in Baghdad in the Zaafaraniya section north of Rashid camp, produced the ion sources used at Project 411.
- Project 411, also known as the al-Safa Factory, was the electromagnetic enrichment plant at Tarmiya known to Yugoslavia as Project 946 for the Aquba bin Naffe State establishment.
- Project 600, a part of the Aquba bin Naffe State Establishment, was involved in the production of components for the electromagnetic separators.
- Project 6000, also known as al-Atheer, was designed to fabricate the uranium shells for atomic bombs.
- Project 7307, also known as the al-Amal factory, produced liquid nitrogen for the electromagnetic separators of Project 411.
- Project 8119, also known as the al-Fajir factory near Ash Sharqat, was built using the Yugoslav design drawings for project 411.
- PC-3 Group 2
- PC-3 Group 3
- PC-3 Group 4, located in Al Atheer, was in charge of weaponisation, including Departments 40B and 40G.
- Akashat Group provided uranium ore.
- Baiji Project is the liquid nitrogen plant for Project 8119.
- Installation Group was located close to the Dijla factory.
Sources and Resources
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/agency/pc-3.htm
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Updated Monday, October 09, 2000 7:47:23 PM
