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Last update - 18:52 24/11/2008
Report: IAEA finds traces of uranium at suspected Syrian nuclear site
By The Associated Press
Tags: Israel news, Syria, nuclear 



Samples taken from a Syrian site bombed by Israel on suspicion it was a covert nuclear reactor contained traces of uranium combined with other elements that merit further investigation, diplomats said Monday.

The diplomats - who demanded anonymity because their information was
c
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onfidential - said the uranium was processed and not in raw form, suggesting some kind of nuclear link.

But one of the diplomats said the uranium finding itself was significant only in the context of other traces found in the oil or air samples taken by International Atomic Energy Agency experts during their visit to the site in June.

Syria has a rudimentary declared nuclear program revolving around research and the production of isotopes for medical and agricultural uses, using a small, 27-kilowatt reactor, and the uranium traces might have originated from there and inadvertently been carried to the bombed site. But taken together, the uranium and the other components found on the environmental swipes tell a story worth investigating, said the diplomat.

The second diplomat said the findings would figure in a report on Syria that will be presented to the IAEA's 35-nation board next week ahead of a scheduled two-day board meeting starting November 24.

Attempts to reach IAEA spokespeople after office hours for comment were
unsuccessful.

Diplomats already told The Associated Press late last month that air and soil samples taken at the site bombed last year by Israeli warplanes had turned up traces of elements that the agency felt needed to be followed up.

The findings are important after months of uncertainty about the status of the investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Preliminary results of the environmental samples collected from the site by an IAEA team were inconclusive, adding weight to Syrian assertions that no trips beyond the initial IAEA visit in June were necessary.

The U.S. says the facility hit by Israel Air Force warplanes more than a year ago was a nearly completed reactor that - when on line - could produce plutonium, a pathway to nuclear arms.

But Damascus denies running a covert program.

Ibrahim Othman, Syria's nuclear chief, has said his country would wait for final environmental results before deciding how to respond to repeated IAEA requests for follow-up visits to the one in June, when the samples were collected.

But a diplomat attending a closed IAEA meeting in September told the AP that Syrian Ambassador Mohammed Badi Khattab suggested his country would not allow further visits under any circumstances because it was still technically at war with Israel and was concerned any additional IAEA probe would expose some of its non-nuclear military secrets.

Beyond wanting to revisit the site bombed by Israel, IAEA experts also want to follow up on U.S, Israeli and other intelligence that North Korea was involved in building the alleged Syrian program.

Also, IAEA officials have been seeking permission to visit three other sites purportedly linked to the alleged reactor destroyed by the IAF - although Syria already has said that those locations are off limits because they are in restricted military areas.

Syria fears the IAEA probe could lead to a massive investigation similar to the probe Iran has been subjected to for more than five years - and to related fallout. Iran is under U.N. sanctions because of its refusal to heed Security Council demands to curb its nuclear activities.

IAEA experts came back June 25 from a four-day visit carrying air and soil samples from the Al Kibar site hit by Israel. But intelligence suggests that radioactive material had not yet been introduced into the alleged reactor before it was destroyed.

That left the inspectors looking for other components, including minute
quantities of graphite, a cooling element in the type of North Korean
prototype that allegedly was being built with help from Pyongyang. Such a
reactor contains hundreds of tons of graphite, and any major explosion would have sent dust over the immediate area.

Related articles:
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      1.   The attack was not tough enough. 20:40  |  Bibi 10/11/08
      2.   Ok, Lincoln, Clickfool: Let The Conspiracy Theories Begin!! 20:45  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 10/11/08
      3.   Israel show the exemple 20:57  |  Marco 10/11/08
      4.   To Ovadiah: yes, the IAF bombs were uranium-charged, and... 21:09  |  Israeli citizen 10/11/08
      5.   Lebanon is building a nuclear reactor too 21:15  |  Joshua 10/11/08
      6.   A trace transfered from inspectors clothes? 21:18  |  Leon 10/11/08
      7.   uranium contamination 21:30  |  truth hunter 10/11/08
      8.   so Israel......... 21:36  |  Sam 10/11/08
      9.   The crucial line in the article. 21:37  |  Mark Lincoln 10/11/08
      10.   It was a baby food production plant ,uranium shmeeraniun right ? 21:50  |  Al 10/11/08
      11.   Suspected Syrian nuclear sites? Remember released photos of site? 21:51  |  bat yam 10/11/08
      12.   Educational material for Ovadiah ben Avraham 21:54  |  Mark Lincoln 10/11/08
      13.   Not even a nuclear weapon would be proof for the incompetent UN 21:58  |  Jon 10/11/08
      14.   Ovadiah ben Avraham 22:00  |  TonyL 10/11/08
      15.   Blow up any hospital in Houston 22:01  |  Mark Lincoln 10/11/08
      16.   Europe soon to be moslem land 22:06  |  Gregor 10/11/08
      17.   Marco # 3 22:13  |  Philippe 10/11/08
      18.   Sirya 22:16  |  amnon 10/11/08
      19.   Yes, it was a baby food factory, making U laced specials 22:19  |  Emanuel 10/11/08
      20.   Uranium at the site 22:20  |  John 10/11/08
      21.   yeah buddy europe soon to be muslim 22:33  |  gregory 10/11/08
      22.   # 9 Mark Lincoln .... 22:35  |  allang 10/11/08
      23.   I thought Israeli Jews 22:37  |  Chris Linthwaite 10/11/08
      24.   # 12 - Mark Lincoln - To expand a bit 22:40  |  Natallie Durson 10/11/08
      25.   Mark Lincoln 22:47  |  Peter Williams 10/11/08
      26.   duh 22:53  |  alan 10/11/08
      27.   Nothing incriminating at the site? We`ll soon fix that! 23:15  |  Clickfool 10/11/08
      28.   It was a Chinese candy factory! 23:29  |  Murray of Montreal 10/11/08
      29.   Natallie Durson explains herself 23:38  |  Murray of Montreal 10/11/08
      30.   uranium found at Syrian site 23:39  |  abraham cohen 10/11/08
      31.   the usual defenders of terror are back. 23:40  |  DR 10/11/08
      32.   Gregor#16; "Europe will soon be Muslim land" 23:41  |  Murray of Montreal 10/11/08
      33.   Syria better than Iran 23:44  |  Logic 10/11/08
      34.   Really? And I always thought it was a pharmaceutical plant... 23:48  |  another physicist 10/11/08
      35.   Peter Williams on deductive reasoning and science... 00:33  |  BBSNews 11/11/08
      36.   # 16 gregor 00:44  |  Axel 11/11/08
      37.   Really? And I always thought it was a pharmaceutical plant 00:57  |  another physicist 11/11/08
      38.   #9 Mark Lincoln 01:14  |  zaz 11/11/08
      39.   Haaretz: who said it was Israel who bombed it? 01:15  |  Marcelo 11/11/08
      40.   The important point.... 01:16  |  Johnboy 11/11/08
      41.   BBSNews 01:28  |  Peter Williams 11/11/08
      42.   allang - and no maater how little you know 01:56  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      43.   another physicist-check out Mark Lincoln 02:02  |  Roo 11/11/08
      44.   True Natalie 02:05  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      45.   Other places you might find DU 02:26  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      46.   Something to consider 02:38  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      47.   Peter Williams 02:44  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      48.   A pharmaceutical plant? 02:50  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      49.   BSNews spews the usual BS 02:59  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      50.   Putting the pieces together 03:04  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      51.   Johnboy and his usual failed logic 03:14  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      52.   Roo - another non-physicist 03:50  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      53.   Zaz - the known Syrian nuclear program 03:56  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      54.   Marcelo - You jest, or did you OD? 04:02  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      55.   Mark Lincoln give me break 04:03  |  Peter Williams 11/11/08
      56.   The IAEA - Peter Williams 04:08  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      57.   SDHD - No, methodical 04:39  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      58.   SDHD - really? 04:50  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      59.   Yse Peter I did, but then 04:57  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      60.   Mark Lincoln 05:27  |  Scott G 11/11/08
      61.   Mark Lincoln 05:31  |  Gregor 11/11/08
      62.   Of course there was uranium there. Cancer Treatment Center. 06:28  |  Dr. Abdul 11/11/08
      63.   Scott G 06:35  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      64.   So Nobody Wants To Laugh Today 06:37  |  Yosemite 11/11/08
      65.   Gredgor - long before Wikipedia 06:39  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      66.   Marco #3, utter nonsense 06:39  |  coming from you 11/11/08
      67.   Earth, rality to Gregor, come in Gregor 07:06  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      68.   The Google Fallacy 07:11  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      69.   The Google Fallacy 07:11  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      70.   Advice from Mac who was 07:13  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      71.   Dr. Abdul, from Latakiya 07:15  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      72.   Yosemite - not that! 07:18  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      73.   actually, the MOST significant statement in this article is: 07:23  |  eric 11/11/08
      74.   this article 07:25  |  Urchin 11/11/08
      75.   # 64 lol...ummmm, yosemite? what are you admitting to? 07:27  |  eric 11/11/08
      76.   Yes, Mark -- really 07:45  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      77.   Just offer your own theory Peter Williams 07:45  |  BBSNews 11/11/08
      78.   A simple question from a simpleton 07:47  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      79.   Lincoln and limited thinking 07:48  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      80.   Mark Lincoln, you take me back... 07:58  |  BBSNews 11/11/08
      81.   Maybe traces resulted from bombing!!!! 08:08  |  isratinian 11/11/08
      82.   sound like I touched a nerve Mark Lincoln 08:32  |  Gregor 11/11/08
      83.   information by an UNIDENTIFIED INFORMANT 08:53  |  VIPER 11/11/08
      84.   uhhh urchin your kidding me right 08:57  |  36 chambers 11/11/08
      85.   MarkL, our resident engineer 09:03  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/11/08
      86.   Shudder, Israel 09:06  |  Clickfool 11/11/08
      87.   Mark Lincoln #63 09:09  |  Scott G 11/11/08
      88.   Gregor`s view of the world # 61 09:30  |  Clickfool 11/11/08
      89.   Syria and Iran 09:50  |  El_Justiciero 11/11/08
      90.   BBS this is not a fetish site 10:10  |  Peter Williams 11/11/08
      91.   For Cipora # 85 10:13  |  Clickfool 11/11/08
      92.   Clickfool #27. 10:19  |  David Nigel Braham 11/11/08
      93.   No amount of media spin 10:22  |  Chris Linthwaite 11/11/08
      94.   #53, MarkL, it is well known 10:32  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/11/08
      95.   #85 ergo CJK 10:44  |  Roo 11/11/08
      96.   Mark, by the way, one question 10:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/11/08
      97.   #91, clickfool 11:36  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/11/08
      98.   # 27 Clickfool: I already told it: fabricated by Israel and Jews! 12:45  |  Israeli citizen 11/11/08
      99.   For Cipora # 97 14:34  |  Clickfool 11/11/08
      100.   For Israeli Citizen # 98 14:36  |  Clickfool 11/11/08
      101.   Cipora You have not observed the IAEA long enough 15:04  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      102.   Scott G. Destroying hardened sites 15:11  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      103.   Cipora - questions 15:17  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      104.   Israeli Citizen 15:24  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      105.   Shaving with William of Occam 15:49  |  Mark Lincoln 11/11/08
      106.   Evidence points to a trick from Bush 17:00  |  Austin Powers 11/11/08
      107.   It is just one of three facilities ! 17:03  |  Kuwaiti 11/11/08
      108.   #3 Marco thanx . I absolutely agree wiz u 17:10  |  Kuwaiti 11/11/08
      109.   The Type of Trace Uranium *IS* Cited, and It`s not DU !! 18:16  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 11/11/08
      110.   BSNews and theories 19:27  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      111.   Cipora Julianna Kohn and further investigation 19:30  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      112.   Mark`s newest theory: Pressure from Bush 19:36  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      113.   Lincoln, just spewing it out cause it sounds good 19:49  |  SDHD 11/11/08
      114.   Where is the debris? 20:18  |  John 11/11/08
      115.   Source of uranium 21:12  |  Cynic #2 11/11/08
      116.   Mark Lincoln 22:38  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/11/08
      117.   #111, SDHD 22:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 11/11/08
      118.   #84 01:25  |  Urchin 12/11/08
      119.   To answer urchin`s question 02:20  |  SDHD 12/11/08
      120.   SDHD 06:02  |  Urchin 12/11/08
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