A military general in Libya said on Thursday (March 16) that more than two tonnes of natural uranium reported missing by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been found. General Khaled al-Mahjoub, commander of eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar’s communications division, said the containers of uranium had been recovered “barely five kilometres (three miles)” from where they had been stored in southern Libya.
Earlier on Thursday the IAEA reported the mission uranium. It said that the uranium had gone missing from a Libyan site and “may present a radiological risk.” The IAEA report was cited by AFP.
The report said that “10 drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of uranium ore concentrate… were not present.” The United Nations energy watchdog said that the site from which the uranium went missing was not currently under the regulatory control of Libya’s state authority.
Uranium ore concentrate is considered to emit low levels of radioactivity. IAEA in its report, had warned about radiological risk as well as nuclear safety concern.
Libya under its long-ruling former dictator Moamer Kadhafi had a suspected nuclear weapons programme, which it scrapped in 2003.
But the North African country has been mired in crisis since Kadhafi’s fall in 2011, with a myriad of militias forming opposing alliances backed by foreign powers.
It remains split between a nominally interim government in the capital Tripoli in the west, and another in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
(With inputs from agencies)
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.
