The Oak Ridge press conference included a carefully constructed photo op. A grim-looking armed guard stands watch before a heap of crates. A few have been opened and artfully tilted back, each showcasing a pair of shiny metal cylinders with shiny metal stands, most of them wrapped in tubing. These are the centrifuges, we were meant to understand, and the other crates held many more. Look, but don't touch.

This helpful diagram, recently published in the New York Times, shows us what we're looking at. The shiny metal cylinder is the protective outer casing of the centrifuge, wrapped in water-filled piping for the regulation of temperature. A cutaway view shows the rotor tube, the part that actually spins to separate the different isotopes of uranium.

But the latest word is that there was probably nothing at all inside the Oak Ridge casings. According to the New York Times,

...the Institute for Science and International Security, based in Washington, said yesterday that the administration had given an inaccurate briefing to reporters last week at the Energy Department's nuclear weapons lab in Oak Ridge, Tenn. At that briefing, officials displayed a dozen uranium centrifuges from what they said was a cache of about 4,000 that Libya had obtained before agreeing in December to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

The institute, which has done extensive research on uranium centrifuges, said its own inquiries, including interviews with federal and overseas experts, found that Libya had obtained 4,000 casings for centrifuges, but that few if any had the finely tooled rotors that are the machine's heart.

25. Libyan authorities stated that, in September 2000, Libya received two centrifuges of the type called L-2.... Libya stated that it had placed an initial order for 5000 centrifuges based on this design, and later extended this to 10 000 machines. The components were manufactured in another country and started to arrive in large quantities in December 2002. Out of the 10 000 centrifuges ordered, Libya had received a considerable number of parts, mainly casings, by the time of the Agency inspections in late December 2003. However, according to Libya, no additional rotors were included in the shipments.

The consequences aren't as high this time. But once again, the Bush Administration seems to be hallucinating aluminum tubes.

Analyst

My earlier comments on Libya's nuclear program are here and here.

My very different take on Iran's nuclear program is here, along with links to previous items.