United Nations inspectors are analyzing further evidence taken from a nuclear research plant in Syria's capital Damascus where unexplained uranium traces were found, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Friday. But the International Atomic Energy Agency said Syria was still blocking follow-up access to the desert site of what U.S. intelligence reports said was a nascent, North Korean-designed nuclear reactor meant to yield atomic bomb fuel, before Israel bombed it to pieces in 2007.
In June, the Vienna-based IAEA said particles of processed uranium showed up in swipe samples taken by inspectors at the research reactor in Damascus and that it was checking for a link to traces retrieved from the bombed Dair Alzour site.
The IAEA said on Friday it carried out an inventory verification check at the Damascus Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) in July, collecting environmental samples of what Syria said was the source of the uranium particles.
The samples were now being analyzed with the results likely to be ready by November.
U.S. analysts have said the IAEA's findings raised the question of whether Syria used some natural uranium intended for the alleged reactor at Dair Alzour for experiments applicable to learning how to separate out plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.
Syria's only declared nuclear site is the Damascus research reactor and, unlike Iran, it has no known nuclear energy-generating capacity.
| Not anymore, at least. |
Damascus denies hiding anything from the IAEA. But the agency says Syria is withholding documentation and blocking access that inspectors need to clarify the case.