The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi declared on Saturday that amounts of uranium had been located in Libya.

The IAEA chief said in a statement, on Saturday, that the agency inspectors had found amounts of the uranium ore concentrate (UOC) at the recently surveyed location in Libya.

During the inspection of the site, the IAEA inspectors observed that drums that had not been present at the declared location at the time of a previous examination had since been brought back and left in close proximity to the declared location.

They confirmed that these drums contained UOC and witnessed their transfer back to within the declared location for storage, and found that a relatively small amount of UOC was still unaccounted for. The team assessed that there was no immediate radiological risk at the location.

The agency welcomes the efforts made by the local counterpart to search for the missing UOC after it raised concerns on 15 March 2023, which thereby enabled the Agency to re-establish knowledge over most of the UOC at this location.

It is continuing to investigate the matter, including reconciling the quantities of UOC present at the declared location with those previously verified by the Agency, in line with the Agency’s safeguards practice.

The IAEA is also engaging with the State of Libya to assist it in improving the effectiveness of the national system of accounting and control of all nuclear material, including a long-term solution for the safety, security and safeguarding of the UOC in question.

Source: Kuwait News Agency