The Storage Facilities
The HMX was stored at the Qa'qaa Store, one of a number of facilities at the Al Qa'qaa complex in Iraq. Al Qa'Qaa is very large, occupying 28 km² of land near to Iskandariya and about 48 km south of Baghdad. It includes almost 1100 individual structures and buildings. This is about the same size as Newport, Rhode Island, Little Cayman or Bath. As a result of its large size, most accounts of the complex deal only with a specific facility located within its bounds.
The Qa'qaa Store was located at the southern end of the facility in underground bunkers. The bunker doors were sealed by IAEA officials upon being closed. Although the doors were sealed, the bunker itself was not hermetically sealed. Air ventilation shafts leading into the bunkers were not sealed. The high explosives subject to the controversy were the only materials under UN seal at Al Qa'qaa.
The RDX was stored at the Al Mahaweel Stores, a site physically separate from, but administered by, Al Qa'qaa.
Satellite imagery of the main Al Qa'qaa complex (about 28 km ¹) is publicly available for 2001 from GlobalSecurity.org and for 2003 and 2004 from DigitalGlobe.
Read more about this topic: Al Qa'qaa High Explosives Controversy
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