The U.N atomic watchdog has discovered plutonium particles near an Egyptian nuclear facility and is trying to determine if they are evidence of a secret weapons program or simply the byproduct of peaceful research, diplomats said Friday.
| I'll take weapons program for $500, Alex. |
In comments to The Associated Press, the diplomats warned against assuming Egypt might have violated the Nonproliferation Treaty by trying to separate plutonium, a substance used to make nuclear weapons. The traces could be from a cracked research reactor fuel element or have other, nonmilitary origins, the diplomats said. "From time to time these things pop up in places they should not be at," said a diplomat familiar with the investigations of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. "Most of the time, there is a reasonable answer."
| "Just because it's a lie doesn't mean it's not reasonable." |
Still, he said agency experts trying to determine the origin of the particles were not ruling out any possibilities until seeing the test results from several European laboratories analyzing the Egyptian samples. The discovery of the particles was a reflection of more efficient controls by the IAEA of member nations' nuclear activities over the past decade as it attempts to prevent proliferation either by rogue nations or black-market profiteers. The controls include more pervasive environmental sampling, which is meant to trace particles of plutonium and enriched uranium - two alternate components of nuclear weapons. Such tests have revealed traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium in Iran - evidence, says the United States, of a secret weapons program. Iran insists it is working only to generate nuclear power.
A Vienna-based diplomat said Friday that the agency's information was still too sketchy to firmly establish how old the Egyptian plutonium traces were. But he suggested they appeared to have been released into the environment no later than the 1980s. Egypt appeared to turn away from the pursuit of a nuclear weapons program decades ago. The Soviet Union and China reportedly rebuffed its requests for nuclear arms in the 1960s, and by the 1970s, Egypt gave up the idea of building a plutonium production reactor and reprocessing plant. Egypt runs small-scale nuclear programs for medical and research purposes. Plans were floated as recently as 2002 to build the country's first nuclear power reactor. But no construction date has been announced, and the pro-government Al-Ahram Weekly recently reported that the plant site near the coastal town of Al-Dabaa might be sold to make way for tourism development.
Although it signed the Nonproliferation Treaty, Egypt in recent years has become one of its vocal critics, mainly because of concerns over Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal and more recent fears about Iran's nuclear agenda. Attempts to reach diplomats for comment at Egyptian Embassy in Vienna after office hours Friday were unsuccessful. Cairo earlier this week denounced a French newspaper report linking Egypt to Libya's now-dismantled nuclear weapons program and suggesting the IAEA's Egyptian head, Mohamed ElBaradei, was protecting his country from scrutiny.
| A French newspaper? Accusing ElBaradei of covering up a covert islamic weapons program? Wow, that did peg the surprise meter! |
But one of the diplomats suggested the IAEA's search and testing in Egypt reflected the impartiality of ElBaradei, and said that - if there are any suspicions about the origins of the plutonium - the agency head would be sure to report it to the IAEA's board of governors. | Uh huh, and I have this bridge...... |
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