“Confidential UN watchdog report says ’significant’ amounts of uranium particles found by inspectors at Syrian complex bombed by Israel in September 2007, adding further investigation needed to prove reactor allegations “
A Syrian complex bombed by Israel bore features resembling those of an undeclared nuclear reactor and UN inspectors found "significant" traces of uranium at the site, a watchdog report said on Wednesday. But the International Atomic Energy Agency report said the findings gleaned from inspectors’ visit to the site in June were not enough to conclude a reactor was once there. It said further investigation and greater Syrian transparency were needed. The confidential nuclear safeguards report said Syria would be asked to show to inspectors debris and equipment whisked away from the site after the September 2007 Israeli air raid. The United States gave intelligence to the IAEA last April that Washington said indicated the site was a reactor that was close to being built with North Korean assistance and designed to produce plutonium for atomic bombs.
Syria, an ally of Iran whose disputed uranium enrichment program has been under IAEA investigation for years, says the site destroyed was a disused military building and the uranium traces almost certainly came with the munitions used to bomb it. Damascus has dismissed as fabricated the satellite imagery and other intelligence underpinning the investigation. "While it cannot be excluded that the building in question was intended for non-nuclear use, the features of the building, along with the connectivity of the site to adequate pumping capacity of cooling water, are similar to what may be found in connection with a reactor site," said the IAEA report, sent to its 35-nation board of governors ahead of a November 27-28 meeting. “
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