Name: Experimental Reactor Fuel Fabrication Laboratory (ERFFL)
Other Names: Experimental Fuel Fabrication Research Laboratory (EFFRL)
Address/Location: Building 73 ("The Italian Area")[1]
Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Subordinate to: Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
Primary Function: Production of natural uranium fuel elements

Description:
The ERFFL houses the fuel fabrication plant. The decision to acquire a fuel manufacturing plant was made in 1973 by scientists of the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission.[2] Italy supplied Iraq with this plant, which was suitable for making natural uranium targets for irradiation in the Osiraq reactor and the IRT-5000 reactor.[3] From 10 December 1988 to 2 February 1989, three U-238 fuel elements were manufactured at ERFFL, for further irradiation in the IRT-5000 reactor and chemical reprocessing of the irradiated fuel in the Radiochemical Laboratory.[4] They were similar to the EK-10 type, but contained natural uranium oxide.[5] EK-10 type fuel elements are rod-like elements consisting of an aluminum sheath surrounding 8g of 10% enriched uranium-235. The ERFFL produced two additional fuel elements between 13 August and 17 November 1989. The elements were sheathed within aluminum casings (shrouds) of the EK-10 type, loaded with the zircaloy-cladded pins. The two elements contained 7.9kg of natural uranium in the form of UO2 pellets.[6] An Iraqi nuclear technician, who defected in 1994 to an opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress, stated that Iraq had manufactured 200 uranium fuel bundles before the Gulf War and hid them from the IAEA inspectors.[7]

Key Sources:
[1] Consolidated Report on the First Two IAEA Inspections Under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991) of Iraqi Nuclear Capabilities, UN Doc S/22788, 11 July 1991, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/
reports/S_22788.pdf>.
[2] Khidhir Hamza, "Inside Saddam's secret nuclear program," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 54, No. 5, September/October 1998, <http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1998/so98/so98hamza.html>.
[3] David Albright and Khidhir Hamza, "Iraq's Reconstitution of Its Nuclear Weapons Program," Arms Control Today, October 1998, <http://www.armscontrol.org/act/1998_10/daoc98.asp>.
[4] "Iraq's Nuclear Weapon Program," Iraq Watch, <http://www.iraqwatch.org/wmd/nuclear.html>; Report on the Fourth IAEA On-Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), UN Doc S/22986, 28 August 1991, <http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/Programmes/ActionTeam/reports/
S_22986.pdf>.
[5] Report on the Fourth IAEA On-Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Kenneth R. Timmerman, "Is the Bomb Within Saddam's Grasp," The Israel Report, March/April 1999, <http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/
marapr99/bomb.html>.

	Updated December 2003