(CBS) International nuclear monitors drove six hours across the Iraqi desert to a remote uranium mining site in one of five inspections mounted Tuesday, a marked expansion of the U.N. field operation.

U.N. nuclear experts checked out mining operations at Ashakat, in the desert near the Syrian border 250 miles west of Baghdad. The enormous complex surrounded by antenna posts, some broken, sat in an otherwise empty quarter of the desert.

The U.N. team presumably wanted to assess current Ashakat operations in the light of what was found there by U.N. nuclear inspectors in the 1990s.

In the 1980s, the phosphate deposits at Ashakat had been exploited for their uranium content as well as for fertilizer, producing some 100 tons of uranium over six years.

Also Tuesday, other nuclear inspectors headed again for al-Tuwaitha, Iraq's major nuclear research center, 15 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi Information Ministry officials reported. It was their third recent visit to the sprawling complex, where Iraqi scientists in the 1980s worked on developing technology for enriching uranium to levels usable in bombs.

A third U.N. team was reported to have gone to a veterinary medicine establishment at Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad — presumably the Amariyah Serum and Vaccine Institute, site of biological weapons-related research in the 1980s.

That institute is reported to have expanded its storage capacity, to an extent the U.S. government says exceeds Iraq's needs. Iraq contends the facility only makes and stores human vaccines.

Other inspectors were reported to have gone Tuesday to a military training center in Baghdad and to an industrial facility at al-Furat, just south of the Iraqi capital. The purposes of those visits were not immediately known.

Tuesday marked the end of the second week of field missions for the U.N. inspectors, who have returned to Iraq after a four-year absence under a Security Council resolution requiring the Baghdad government to give up any remaining chemical or biological weapons, and shut down any programs to make them. Iraq denies it still has such weapons or programs.

Later Tuesday, about 25 additional inspectors were scheduled to arrive, bolstering the U.N. inspection staff to approximately 70.

In an interview published Tuesday in the weekly al-Rafidayn, Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, chief Iraqi liaison, said of the inspectors' "behavior" that, "we're satisfied with it so far because it is calm and professional."

He did take exception with the Dec. 3 visit to a presidential palace, claiming it was done at the behest of the United States to "create a crisis." Palace inspections were a sticking point under the old U.N. regime; the new resolution authorizes experts to go wherever they choose.

Meanwhile, U.N. analysts — using a powerful computer database — began combing through 12,000 pages of documents submitted by Iraq to the United Nations over the weekend, detailing past programs of weapons of mass destruction and what it says are purely civilian programs today in the chemical, biological and nuclear areas.

The nine-page table of contents has been made public. The table of contents is broken down into four sections: nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic missile programs. The table provides a glimpse of Iraq's account of its programs but it will take U.N. and American analysts some time before they can determine whether the declaration is complete.

According to the table of contents, some 2,100 pages are devoted to Iraq's nuclear program before 1991, and another 300 pages in Arabic detail current nuclear programs, which Baghdad says are civilian. Some experts said the amount of pre-Gulf War data indicates much of the dossier is recycled information.

On Monday, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer withheld judgment on the huge document, saying the U.S. wants to study the material "thoroughly, completely and fully and thoughtfully."

"On the broader picture yes, there's skepticism and there's fear about Iraqi intentions and abilities," Fleischer said.

In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair told the Financial Times, "If there is a breach and Saddam doesn't comply, then we are prepared to take action."

Also Tuesday, anti-war protesters planned demonstrations in 100 cities across 35 states.

The "Human Rights Day" of action — led by a coalition including The National Organization for Women, National Council of Churches, and Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows — will involve marches, rallies and teach-ins in places like Charlotte, N.C., Spokane, Wash. and New York City.