The head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Monday the agency needs more transparency from Syria and other nations to determine whether traces of uranium found at a site bombed by Israeli planes indicate Damascus was building a nuclear reactor there.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei confirmed that the radioactive material was found at the site, but said the source was inconclusive.
"It's not highly enriched uranium. It could have come from so many different ways," he told reporters in Dubai. "That's why we're looking at so many different scenarios."
Uranium can be found naturally in low concentrations and must be "enriched" before it can be used in either power plants or nuclear weapons. Highly enriched uranium is the type used in atomic bombs.
ElBaradei made the comments during and after a speech to business leaders here, just days before the IAEA is expected to circulate a confidential report to board members outlining the status of his agency's investigation.
"We still have a lot of work to do. We haven't yet reached a conclusion whether that was a reactor or not a reactor," ElBaradei said.
Diplomats told the AP earlier this month that soil samples collected at the bombed site revealed minute traces of processed uranium.
No comments:
Post a Comment