» 06/06/2009 12:34 SYRIA - UN Uranium found at second site near Damascus The UN was verifying the presence of enriched uranium at the site bombed by Israel in 2007. Damascus hides the list of its materials and refuses to collaborate. Meanwhile Iran increases its enriched uranium by 500kg.
Vienna (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, says traces of man-made uranium have been found at a second site in Syria, at a reactor in Damascus, as well as the one destroyed by Israel in 2007.
The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) was investigating US claims that the al Kibar reactor, built with North Korean help, produced enriched uranium for nuclear warheads. The reactor was destroyed by Israeli missiles in 2007.
Now the UN agency says it has found traces of the same type of uranium at a reactor near the capital Damascus that had never been declared by Syria. According to the IAEA, Syria is withholding information on its nuclear program and it refuses to comment on satellite images taken of the al Kibar reactor. Damascus maintains that the site bombed by Israel was a simple military base.
In a separate report the IAEA said Iran had increased its rate of production of low-enriched uranium boosting its stockpile by 500 kg to 1,339 kg in the past six months. Teheran has received three sets of prohibitive UN sanctions because of its nuclear ambitions.
