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Tuesday, May 6, 2003

"IAEA said over the weekend that it found reports that there had been looting at Iraq's nuclear facilities disturbing and it has requested that the United States confirm the situation and allow for an IAEA team to investigate," said the spokesman, Fred Eckhard.

"IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei in a letter requested that the United States allow an IAEA investigative mission to find out what the state of Iraq's nuclear facilities is," Eckhard said. "The agency has not yet received a response to that letter."

While U.N. officials would not release a copy of the letter, there were indications it would become public later in the week if Washington does not respond.

"We're reviewing the document and have no immediate comment," a U.S official told United Press International.

ElBaradei had written Washington April 10, asking that the United States ensure "the security and safety of all the nuclear material in Iraq, which has been under IAEA seal since 1991," the spokesman said. "ElBaradei indicated that until the agency's inspectors return to Iraq, the U.S. has responsibility for maintaining security at Iraq's nuclear storage facilities."

In that letter, the Vienna-based IAEA also cited "media reports" about the security of nuclear material stored near the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center in Iraq. U.S. military forces recently entered the Tuwaitha site, and the IAEA asked the United States to secure the material located there with proper protection and to keep access to the site restricted.

Assurances were received.

As Soon As Possible

However, just two weeks ago, in a written report to the Security Council, ElBaradei said, "The IAEA should resume its work in Iraq as soon as possible," explaining the agency "continues to be the sole organization with legal powers -- derived from both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and successive Security Council resolutions -- to verify Iraq's nuclear disarmament," ElBaradei said. "We await the guidance of the council as to the modalities of our return."

ElBaradei also told the council his agency told the coalition about the need for physical protection at the location of Iraq's declared nuclear material.

He said the IAEA had also provided information about the location of radioactive sources, to enable safety and security measures to be taken.

Most of the nuclear and other radioactive material at the Tuwaitha site was stored near the main complex in the three buildings known as "Location C," which contained nuclear material -- covered by Iraq's Safeguards Agreement under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- that the agency was not required by the U.N. Security Council to remove after the Gulf war in 1991, the agency said.

The reason it was left was because it could not be used directly for nuclear weapons purposes, the IAEA said. A separate building at Location C was used to store radioisotope sources. Radiation levels were high and the agency warned caution had to be used in entering the building.

The agency said its inspectors had been monitoring and inspecting the material at Location C periodically since 1991.

The IAEA applied seals on the drums containing the nuclear materials and the building itself. "As soon as circumstances permit, the IAEA should return to verify that there has been no diversion of this material," said Dr. ElBaradei in the April 10 letter.

During weapons inspections in Iraq from November 2002 until March 2003, IAEA inspectors visited the Tuwaitha research center several times, the agency said. Inspectors examined underground areas at Tuwaitha as part of the inspection process, including the basements of buildings as well as underground ruins and the surroundings of the destroyed research reactors. In some buildings, the IAEA documented higher than normal radiation levels, attributable to Iraq's past nuclear weapons program and the presence of radioisotopes.

Copyright 2003, United Press International

All rights reserved.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
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