Bombed Syrian Facility Likely Contained Reactor: IAEA

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The International Atomic Energy Agency in a new safeguards report said a Syrian facility destroyed in a 2007 Israeli airstrike had quite possibly housed an undisclosed nuclear reactor nearing completion, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday (George Jahn, Associated Press/Washington Times, May 24; seeGSN, May 20).

"Features of the destroyed building are comparable to those of gas cooled graphite moderated
reactors of the type and size alleged," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano asserted in the document. "Prior to the bombing, the configuration of the infrastructure at the site, including its connections for cooling and treated water, was able to support the operation of such a reactor and was not consistent with Syria’s claims regarding the purpose of the infrastructure," he added.

"In addition, a number of other features of the site add to its suitability for the construction and
operation of a nuclear reactor; analysis of samples from the site indicates a connection to nuclear related activities; and the features of the destroyed building and the site could not have served the purpose claimed by Syria," the report states.

Amano concluded: "Based on all the information available to the agency and its technical evaluation of that information, the agency assesses that it is very likely that the building destroyed at the Dair Alzour site was a nuclear reactor which should have been declared to the agency" (International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards report, May 24)  Full article
.