UN nuclear watchdog says it found uranium particles at Syria site
VIENNA: The UN’s atomic watchdog has discovered uranium particles in Syria during a probe into a site suspected of once housing a covert nuclear reactor, according to a confidential report seen by AFP on Tuesday (Sep 2).
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has for years investigated claims that Syria had built a nuclear reactor at the remote desert site of Deir Ezzor, which was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in 2007.
In 2011, the agency said it was “very likely” the building at Deir Ezzor “was a nuclear reactor which should have been declared”. Syria, whose long-time leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024 after 14 years of civil war, has consistently denied the allegation.
URANIUM PARTICLES DISCOVERED
In its latest restricted report, circulated to board members on Monday, the IAEA said it had found “a significant number of natural uranium particles in samples taken at one of the three locations allegedly linked to Deir Ezzor”.
The particles were of anthropogenic origin, meaning they were produced as a result of chemical processing, the agency said. “The current Syrian authorities indicated that they had no information that might explain the presence of such uranium particles,” the report noted.
SYRIA GRANTS ACCESS
Inspectors were first allowed to collect environmental samples in 2024, when Assad was still in power, and again in June this year under the new authorities.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi visited Damascus in June, his first trip to the country since Assad’s ouster, and said the agency and Syria would begin “exploring the possibility of nuclear power”.
Grossi told an IAEA Board of Governors meeting earlier this year that he had requested Syria’s cooperation to “fulfil our obligation to verify nuclear material and facilities” and to resolve outstanding issues.
