For a start, South Africa was already providing the yellowcake essential for building a nuclear weapon.

South Africa also provided much of the yellowcake uranium that Israel required to develop its weapons.

Iran has already received a shipment of yellowcake, an unenriched uranium compound, from Russia in exchange for the stockpile.

Iran will continue preparing raw "yellowcake" uranium for enrichment until early next year despite a recent pledge to freeze all such activity, diplomats said.

These would support a 17-year mine-life based on annual production rate of approximately 2,000 to 4,000 tonnes of uranium in the form of yellowcake.

He said 6,400 barrels of concentrated uranium, or yellowcake, were stored at a former military base in southern Libya, guarded by an army battalion.

Goldman's trading of yellowcake, enriched uranium ore known as U308, rose tenfold from 2009 to reach 12.8 million pounds in 2013, according to the report.

Australian writer of short stories and young adult fiction; her latest collection is Yellowcake, and she contributed to the Zombies Vs Unicorns short story collection.