VIENNA, Sept 2 (Bernama-dpa) -- United Nations nuclear inspectors have secured large quantities of long-concealed uranium stockpiles in Syria dating from the rule of former president Bashar al-Assad, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
A non-public report by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi, issued in Vienna on Tuesday, said the cache amounted to 73 metric tonnes, including around 55 tonnes of fuel rods for a secret reactor project.
The report contained the first detailed inventory of the nuclear material, after Grossi and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced the existence of the uranium stockpiles in Damascus two weeks ago.
The material had been verified and secured by IAEA experts in recent days and was now under IAEA monitoring, the report said. Grossi had warned in Damascus that the uranium could be misused.
Israel attacked and destroyed the construction site of a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007 to prevent the country from using it to produce nuclear weapons.
The IAEA had already concluded in a 2011 investigation report that it had been a secret reactor bearing similarities to a reactor in the nuclear-armed state of North Korea.
Due to resistance from the al-Assad government and the civil war, the IAEA had been unable to investigate the secret activities on the ground. The former Syrian government had concealed the reactor, a nuclear fuel fabrication facility and a nuclear material storage site from the IAEA, according to Grossi's new report.
Following al-Assad's fall at the end of 2024, the investigation gained new momentum. Grossi thanked the current Syrian government for its transparency and cooperation.
-- NNN-BERNAMA-dpa