UN report says Syria was building nuclear reactor

VIENNA

The IAEA said it found around 73 tons of natural uranium metal, comprising 55 tons of fuel rods and the rest uranium scrap and waste.

A Syrian site held infrastructure “consistent with a nuclear reactor,” the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a confidential report on Sept. 1, adding that the country under ousted former leader Bashar al-Assad “failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities.”

Inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month visited two sites, one in Deir Ezzor and a second location related to nuclear material identified by Syria.

“Based on observations made by the agency at the Deir Ezzor site, the agency confirms that the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor,” the IAEA said.

In its report, the IAEA said it found around 73 tons of natural uranium metal,” comprising 55 tons of fuel rods and the rest uranium scrap and waste.

No nuclear material or equipment was found at two other locations in Syria which the agency visited on Aug. 19, it said, adding it was still awaiting results from environmental samples taken.

The agency said it would continue to monitor the activities at the site “as the excavation work progresses.”
“Based on the information provided by Syria and the results of the agency’s verification activities conducted at several locations in Syria, the agency is able to establish that the former Syrian authorities had failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities,” it said.

Besides the “nuclear reactor under construction” at the Deir Ezzor site, the IAEA listed a fuel fabrication plant, where the nuclear fuel for the reactor was manufactured, and a location where the nuclear fuel, as well as uranium scrap and waste were stored.

Grossi said last month that IAEA inspectors had found several tons of nuclear material in Syria, at a site Damascus reported to the agency in July.

Last month, Grossi visited the site in Deir Ezzor in the east, which has been shut for 18 years.