Inspections of an alleged Syrian nuclear site have turned up traces of processed uranium, and the top U.N. nuclear official plans to issue a report on the matter this month, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 29).
(Nov. 11) -
Inspectors under IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei have found uranium traces at a suspected former reactor site in Syria (Behrouz Mehri/Getty Images).
Personnel from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited Syria in June to collect data from a site near al-Kibar that was bombed by Israel last year. U.S. intelligence officials later offered evidence that the secret facility held a nearly completed nuclear reactor designed with North Korean assistance to produce plutonium for a weapons program (see GSN, April 25).
Syria razed the area shortly after the attack and began erecting a new structure.
Early IAEA analysis of soil and air samples taken in June showed no signs of a nuclear reactor, such as uranium or graphite, but more complete testing has indicated small amounts of uranium, Reuters reported.
“It isn’t enough to conclude or prove what the Syrians were doing but the IAEA has concluded that this requires further investigation,” said one diplomat.
“It was a man-made component, not natural (ore). There is no sign there was already nuclear fuel or (production) activity there,” added another diplomat.
While raising the prospect that the alleged reactor had been fueled with uranium before it was destroyed, the uranium could also have been brought to the site on workers’ clothing or on equipment delivered from other locations, according to Reuters (Mark Heinrich, Reuters I, Nov. 10).
IAEA officials have urged observers not to jump to conclusions before they submit a formal report to the agency’s Board of Governors later this month.
“Our report … is still being drafted and our assessment and evaluation is still under way,” said agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming in a release today.
One diplomat familiar with agency affairs cautioned that the laboratory tests have not offered definitive results. Multiple tests on identical samples have not returned identical results, the diplomat said (Greg Webb, Global Security Newswire, Nov. 11).
Nevertheless, the results are a cause for concern.
“It’s been made clear to us that the samples raise further questions,” another diplomat told Reuters (Heinrich, Reuters I).
Syria, however, has so far rejected IAEA requests for additional inspections of the bombed site or of other locations that could hold useful information.
At the latest IAEA board meeting, Syrian Ambassador Mohammed Badi Khattab indicated that Damascus would not allow any more IAEA visits, fearing that military secrets would be revealed to Israel, a diplomat told the Associated Press (George Jahn, Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 11).
Nuclear suspicions over Syria could affect the nation’s request for IAEA help to study the feasibility of building a nuclear power plant, Reuters reported.
“It is ludicrous that Syria is asking for such technical assistance at the same time it is under investigation for covert nuclear work,” said a senior diplomat with ties to the agency (Heinrich, Reuters I).
Agency Irritated
Agency spokeswoman Fleming expressed frustration today with IAEA officials and diplomats who leaked the information to the media.
“We regret that people are trying to prejudge the IAEA’s technical assessment. We are, however, accustomed to these kinds of efforts to hype and undermine the process before every meeting of the IAEA board,” she said in today’s statement.
The leaks could affect the agency’s ability to investigate the reactor claims by discouraging Syria’s willingness to cooperate with inspectors, said a diplomat close to the agency (Mark Heinrich, Reuters II, Nov. 11).