About 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored in Libya has disappeared, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Thursday, citing security and proliferation concerns.
Natural uranium cannot be used directly for energy production, which requires the enrichment process of the ore through advanced centrifugation.
Yet every ton of natural uranium — held by asset and technological resource groups — can be converted into 5.6 kilograms of “war-capable material,” according to specialists.
The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, based in Vienna, informed the various states on Wednesday about the disappearance of natural uranium found on Libyan territory.
“Agency security (IAEA) found that 10 barrels containing a total of 2.5 tons of natural uranium were not found where Libya claimed they were”says a note released this Thursday by the United Nations body.
“The agency will take steps to clarify the circumstances that led to the disappearance of the nuclear material, as well as the place where it can be found”adds the IAEA statement.
Initially, the Reuters agency reported the concerns of the IAEA regarding the disappearance of Libyan uranium, citing that parts of the UN agency were located where the material was located and that it was not under the control of the government (Tripoli).
The IAEA is not providing any further details about the disappearance.
According to the Associated Press, the site of the uranium barrels is located in Sabha, 660 kilometers southeast of the capital, in an area close to the Sahara and beyond the control of the Tripoli authorities.
In this place, the former dictator of Libya Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011) stored thousands of barrels of natural uranium (“yellowcake”) to be later converted into a uranium conversion unit, which was never built.
In 2003, after the invasion of Iraq by the international coalition led by the United States, Gaddafi announced his intention to build a nuclear program with the stored material.
Some of the material (natural uranium) was removed from the country by UN inspectors, but about 6,400 barrels remained in Sabha.
According to diplomatic messages released by the WikiLeaks portal in 2009, the United States expressed fear over Iran’s alleged intentions to access Libya’s uranium.
Gaddafi was killed after the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, just as civil war broke out in Libya.
In recent years, Sabha has become one of the crossing points for irregular migration routes controlled by traffickers.
The Sabha region is under the control of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army, commanded by General Khalifa Hifter.
According to the Associated Presse, Hifter was a former US intelligence agency (CIA) liaison, especially during the Gaddafi regime when he lived in exile.
At this time, Hifter is fighting the Tripoli government for control of the entire country.
A spokesman for the general declined to comment on the uranium.
Forces of the Front for Change and Concord in Chad group, from Chad, are also present in the same area, especially in the south of the city of Sabha.
Source: DN
