VIENNA, 15 February 2005 — The UN nuclear agency, in a confidential report obtained by AFP, said yesterday that Egypt was guilty of repeated failures to report nuclear activities but downplayed any suggestion that this could be related to secret atomic weapons development.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also found traces of plutonium, a potential atomic weapons material, in so-called hot cells, the report said, with Egypt saying this was due to contamination rather than plutonium production.
It added that Egypt’s failures were “a matter of concern” but that Cairo was now cooperating and had claimed it had erred as it had not understood its reporting obligations.
A senior diplomat close to the IAEA described the incidents as minor, with some taking place as long as 40 years ago, and said they could be related to research into the nuclear fuel cycle in order to build power plants, as Egypt claims, rather than part of an atomic weapons program.
“The nuclear material and facilities seen by the agency to date are consistent with the activities described by Egypt,” which are strictly peaceful, the report said.
It added that Egypt has already dismantled a uranium conversion facility and was now using a plant originally built for reprocessing plutonium to store radioactive material intended for medical purposes.
But “notwithstanding, and irrespective of the current status of the previously undeclared activities and the small amounts of nuclear material involved, the repeated failures by Egypt to report nuclear materials and facilities to the agency in a timely manner are a matter of concern,” the report said.
