| UN agency confirms raw uranium in Libya
The UN atomic agency on Friday confirmed the existence of raw uranium in Libya after it was reported that new regime forces had found potentially radioactive materials.
"We can confirm that there is yellow cake (raw uranium) stored in drums at a site near Sabha in central Libya," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokeswoman Gill Tudor said.
She said that the uranium, stored by the government of ousted Moammar Gadhafi, had been declared to the IAEA and that it hoped to be able to examine the material "once the situation in the country stabilises."
Contradictions
The alleged discovery appeared to contradict a statement from the United States last month, however, that all Libya's yellow cake was at another site at Tajura near Tripoli.
Raw or unprocessed uranium, which has low radioactivity levels, needs to be enriched using a highly complex and expensive procedure before it can be used in nuclear power generation or in atomic weapons.
Libya agreed in 2003 to renounce its activities aimed at developing weapons of mass destruction as part of a rapprochement with Western countries that saw sanctions lifted and sensitive nuclear materials removed.
Ware Houses of Blue Barrels
Several of the barrels were marked with tape saying "radioactive," and several plastic bags of yellow powder sealed with the same tape.
Forces loyal to Libya's new regime this week captured Sabha, Libya's largest desert city in the deep south, from forces loyal to Gadhafi.
AFP/Abubakar
|
