A surveillance camera is displayed during a news conference about developments related to the IAEA鈥檚 monitoring and verification work in Iran, in Vienna, Austria June 9, 2022. (REUTERS)
VIENNA聽 鈥� U.N. nuclear watchdog inspectors have found that roughly 2.5 tons of natural uranium have gone missing from a Libyan site that is not under government control, the watchdog told member states in a statement on Wednesday seen by Reuters.
The finding is the result of an inspection originally planned for last year that 鈥渉ad to be postponed because of the security situation in the region鈥� and was finally carried out on Tuesday, according to the confidential statement by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi.
IAEA inspectors 鈥渇ound that 10 drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of UOC (uranium ore concentrate) previously declared by (Libya) 鈥� as being stored at that location were not present at the location,鈥� the one-page statement said.
The agency would carry out 鈥渇urther activities鈥� to determine the circumstances of the uranium鈥檚 removal from the site, which it did not name, and where it is now, the statement added.
鈥淭he loss of knowledge about the present location of nuclear material may present a radiological risk, as well as nuclear security concerns,鈥� it said, adding that reaching the site required 鈥渃omplex logistics鈥�.
In 2003 Libya under then-leader Muammar Gaddafi renounced its nuclear weapons programme, which had obtained centrifuges that can enrich uranium as well as design information for a nuclear bomb, though it made little progress towards a bomb.
Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted Gaddafi. Since 2014, political control has been split between rival eastern and western factions, with the last major bout of conflict ending in 2020.
Libya鈥檚 interim government, put in place in early 2021 through a U.N.-backed peace plan, was only supposed to last until an election scheduled for December of that year that has still not been held, and its legitimacy is now also disputed.