VIENNA — Samples taken from a Syrian site bombed by Israel on suspicion it was a covert nuclear reactor contained traces of uranium combined with other elements that merit further investigation, diplomats said Monday.
The diplomats, who demanded anonymity because their information was confidential, said the uranium was processed and not in raw form. That suggests some kind of nuclear link.
But one of the diplomats said the discovery of the uranium was significant only in the context of other traces found in the oil or air samples taken by International Atomic Energy Agency experts during their visit to the site in June.
Syria has a rudimentary declared nuclear program revolving around research and the production of isotopes for medical and agricultural uses. The country uses a small, 27-kilowatt reactor, and the uranium traces might have originated from there and had inadvertently been carried to the bombed site.
Taken together, the uranium and the other components found on the environmental swipes “tell a story” worth investigating, said the diplomat.
The second diplomat said the findings would figure in a report on Syria that will be presented to the IAEA’s 35-nation board next week, ahead of a scheduled two-day board meeting starting Nov. 24.
Diplomats told The Associated Press last month that air and soil samples from the site bombed last year by Israeli warplanes had turned up traces of elements that the agency thought needed a follow-up.
The findings are important after months of uncertainty about the status of the IAEA investigation. Preliminary results of the environmental samples collected from the site were inconclusive, adding weight to Syrian assertions that no trips were necessary beyond the initial IAEA visit in June.
The United States says the facility hit by Israeli jets more than a year ago was a nearly completed reactor that, when on line, could produce plutonium, a pathway to nuclear arms. Damascus denies any covert program.
Ibrahim Othman, Syria’s nuclear chief, has said his country will wait for final environmental results before deciding how to respond to IAEA requests for follow-up visits.
Syria fears the IAEA probe could lead to a massive investigation similar to the one Iran has been subjected to for more than five years — and to the related fallout. Iran is under U.N. sanctions because of its refusal to heed Security Council demands to curb its nuclear activities.
