IAEA report outlines Syrian nuclear activity

Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under the leadership of ousted former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, a UN report said on Tuesday.

Inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month visited several sites in Syria and carried out verification work that confirmed the existence of a long-suspected nuclear site, according to the confidential report circulated to member states.

Based on the visit, the IAEA reported that it is “able to establish that the former Syrian authorities had failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities as required under the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] Safeguards Agreement.”

This information included a nuclear reactor under construction in Deir el-Zour, a fuel fabrication plant and another site used for fuel storage during the rule of al-Assad.

Under al-Assad, Syria was believed to have operated an extensive undeclared nuclear program that included a nuclear reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir el-Zour Province.

Following his ouster, the new government agreed to give IAEA inspectors access to suspected former nuclear sites.

The site in Deir el-Zour only became public knowledge after Israel launched airstrikes in 2007 that destroyed the facility.

Syria later leveled the site and never responded fully to the IAEA’s questions about it.

The IAEA took samples at the site in 2024 and last year reported that they contained uranium particles.

The new Syrian authorities have also expressed an interest in developing a civilian nuclear energy program and said any nuclear material found in the country would remain in Syria’s custody under international safeguards.

The IAEA on Tuesday reported that its inspectors visited the Deir el-Zour site on Saturday last week “to monitor progress on the excavation work.”

“Based on observations made at the location, the agency confirms that the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor,” the report said.

Three locations were “functionally related” to the Deir el-Zour site, the nuclear watchdog said.

One was related to “conversion and/or fuel fabrication activities,” another was for “temporary storage of construction material” and another was for the “temporary storage of construction materials being transferred to/from” the site, as well as for “planned reprocessing activities,” it said.

During the visit to Syria, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi and a team of senior inspectors also visited a previously undeclared site in the country.

Syria notified the agency of the site’s existence in a letter on July 17 and invited the IAEA “to cooperate with the Syrian authorities in the inspection and verification of the site, and of any nuclear material to be potentially found.”

The new site contained “natural uranium metal in the form of fuel rods with cladding,” the report said.

The agency verified the material and confirmed “the presence of around 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal,” it said.

The agency reported that “all of this nuclear material is currently subject to agency containment and surveillance measures.”

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