VIENNA (Agencies)
Iran's explanation about the nature and purpose of a previously undeclared second nuclear site "requires further clarification" and also raises concern about possible further secret nuclear sites in the country, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a report released on Monday.
In a restricted new report the International Atomic Energy Agency said that the plant, being built near the holy city of Qom, "corresponds to the design information provided by Iran."
Nevertheless, "Iran's explanation about the purpose of the facility and the chronology of its design and construction requires further clarification," the report added.
Iran revealed to the IAEA in September that it had been building a second uranium enrichment plant inside a mountain near the Shiite holy city of Qom.
The disclosure of its existence triggered widespread outrage in the West, which suspects Iran is enriching uranium with an ultimate goal of using it to make atomic weapons.
Meanwhile, the UN nuclear watchdog urged Syria to provide further explanation of uranium traces U.N. inspectors found at a Damascus atom research reactor adding that it would take more samples in a deepening probe
The IAEA said in the report that Syria was also still blocking follow-up access to a desert site of what U.S. intelligence reports said was a nascent, North Korean-designed nuclear reactor geared to yield atomic bomb fuel, before Israel bombed it in 2007. |
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"Inconsistent obligations" The Vienna-based IAEA, which has been checking whether there could be a link between the Damascus and Dair Alzour sites, said in June particles of processed uranium had showed up in samples at the Damascus research reactor.
Some analysts have said the findings raise the question of whether Syria used some natural uranium intended for the alleged reactor at Dair Alzour for tests applicable to learning how to separate out bomb-grade plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.
Syria, an ally of Iran which is under IAEA investigation over nuclear proliferation suspicions, has denied ever having an atom bomb programme and has said the intelligence is fabricated.
Syria told the agency earlier this month that the traces at the Damascus site could have come from domestically-produced uranium concentrate known as "yellow cake," or from imports of commercial uranyl nitrate which it had not declared to the IAEA, according to Monday's report. |
