VIENNA: IAEA inspectors have found that approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium have gone missing from a site in Libya that is not under the control of the government, the UN watchdog told member countries Wednesday in a statement, Reuters reported.
UN watchdog
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said in a confidential statement, “The discovery is the outcome of an inspection initially planned for 2022 that had to be deferred due to security situation in the region” and was finally conducted on Tuesday”. UN watchdog inspectors “discovered ten drums containing about 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of UOC earlier declared by [Libya] as being warehoused at that spot were not present at the site,” the one-page statement added.
IAEA will conduct “further activities” to fix the conditions of the uranium’s removal from the spot, the statement said. According to the statement of IAEA, the loss of knowledge regarding the current site of nuclear material may present a radiological risk, and security concerns.
In 2003, the then-leader of Libya Moammar Gadhafi abandoned its nuclear program, which had attained centrifuges that can enrich uranium, though it did little progress toward a bomb. The African country has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-sponsored uprising ousted Moammar Gadhafi.
