VIENNA: The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that its inspectors found traces of uranium at a site in Syria believed to be part of a clandestine nuclear program by the former government.
Syria under former President Bashar Assad was believed to have operated an extensive undeclared nuclear program, which included an undeclared nuclear reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir Ezzor province.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, previously told The Associated Press that some of Syria’s activities “were, in the judgment of the agency, probably related to nuclear weapons.”
Last year, IAEA inspectors visited and took environmental samples at “three locations that were allegedly functionally related” to the Deir Ezzor site, and “analysis revealed a significant number of anthropogenic natural uranium particles in samples taken at one of the three locations,” IAEA spokesman Fredrik Dahl said in a statement.
“Some of these uranium particles are consistent with the conversion of uranium ore concentrate to uranium oxide,” he said. This would be typical of a nuclear power reactor.
