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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| IAEA says uranium traces found at 2nd Syria site |
| 2009-06-06 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Traces of manmade uranium have been discovered at a second site in Syria and Iran has expanded the number of centrifuges enriching uranium to almost 5,000, according to reports released by the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Friday. In report on Syria, the International Atomic Energy Agency said its inspectors found uranium particles at a research reactor near Damascus that would not normally be expected there and had asked Syria to explain how they got there. Inspectors had found "anthropogenic natural uranium particles in environmental samples taken in 2008 from the hot cells of the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) facility in Damascus," the report said. It was not the type of uranium that would normally be expected to be found at this kind of reactor, a senior official close to the IAEA said on condition of anonymity. Syria had responded to the agency's "request for an explanation concerning the presence and origin of the anthropogenic natural uranium particles found at the MNSR," the report said. The IAEA has been examining U.S. intelligence reports that Syria had almost built a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor meant to yield bomb-grade plutonium before Israel bombed it in 2007. |
| Posted by:Fred |