The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that a nuclear reactor under construction during the rule of the ousted Bashar al-Assad regime had been identified in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province.
A confidential report distributed by the IAEA to its member states said agency inspectors had conducted verification activities at various locations in Syria last August. According to the report, the Assad regime failed to declare the nuclear material, facilities and activities it was required to report under its safeguards agreement pursuant to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Three areas linked to the reactor in Deir ez-Zor
The report said structures beside the reactor that were intended for nuclear fuel production and fuel storage were also among the facilities that should have been declared.
IAEA inspectors visited the Deir ez-Zor site on August 29 and examined the progress of excavation work. They verified that the cooling infrastructure uncovered at the site was consistent with a nuclear reactor facility.
Three areas with a “functional connection” to the reactor were identified. One was found to be associated with uranium conversion or fuel production, while another was linked to the temporary storage of construction materials. The third area was intended for storage and planned reprocessing activities.
Approximately 73 tons of uranium at an undeclared facility
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and a delegation of senior inspectors also inspected another facility in Syria that had not previously been declared to the agency.
Syria’s current government notified the agency of the facility’s existence in a letter sent on July 17. The government also called for cooperation in examining and verifying the nuclear materials.
The facility contained natural uranium metal in the form of clad fuel rods. The IAEA verified approximately 73 tons of the material and placed it under safeguards and monitoring measures.
In a statement in Damascus on August 18, Grossi said that “several tons of nuclear material” from the period of the ousted regime had been found in Deir ez-Zor. Grossi also said that the facility had been opened to inspection by IAEA inspectors.
