Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: Syrian Uranium Could be at Risk: Experts

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Syrian Uranium Could be at Risk: Experts

Syrian rebels take up position near a military airport at Taftanaz. The ongoing civil war against the Assad government raises concerns about the security of up to 50 metric tons of nonenriched uranium believed to be held in Syria, according to government officials and issue specialists (AP Photo/Mustafa Karali).

There are concerns about the security of as much as 50 metric tons of nonenriched uranium in civil war-wracked Syria, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Issue specialists believe that Damascus would have required roughly that amount of material to operate a suspected unfinished nuclear reactor plant destroyed in a 2007 Israeli airstrike. The Assad government has said the Dair Alzour facility was a military installation not involved in atomic operations.
International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in 2008 discovered traces of anthropogenic natural uranium at Dair Alzour. They have not been allowed to return to the razed site.http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/syrian-uranium-could-be-risk-experts/