U.N. nuclear watchdog: 2.5 tons of uranium missing in Libya

About 2.5 tons of natural uranium are missing from a site in Libya, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Thursday, warning of potential concerns over nuclear safety.

Inspectors who visited an unnamed site in the war-torn country on Tuesday discovered that “10 drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of uranium ore concentrate were not present as previously declared at a location in the state of Libya,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in an emailed statement.

That form of uranium “poses little radiation hazard, but it requires safe handling,” the IAEA said. “The loss of knowledge about the present location of nuclear material may present a radiological risk, as well as nuclear security concerns.”

The agency added that it would carry out “further activities” to “clarify the circumstances of the removal of the nuclear material and its current location.”

IAEA Director Rafael Mariano Grossi informed member states of the development on Wednesday, according to the statement, which did not specify the name or location of the site.

However, Reuters, which first reported the news, said Grossi told member states that an inspection at the same site due last year was postponed due to security concerns.

His statement added that travel to the site, which is not controlled by the Libyan government, required “complex logistics,” according to Reuters.

While natural uranium cannot immediately be used for nuclear energy or weapons, with the right knowledge and resources each ton can be refined to 12 pounds of weaponsgrade material over time, according to the Associated Press.

In 2003, Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi announced he would surrender his weapons of mass destruction and halt his nuclear development program.

However, diplomats and weapons experts said that access to the country’s laboratories and storage depots showed that the ambitious weapons program was not close to producing nuclear warheads, The Washington Post reported in 2004.

This isn’t the first case of missing radioactive items: In February, officials in Western Australia recovered a tiny but dangerous radioactive capsule after an urgent search lasting almost a week.

More recently, the Texas Department of State

Health Services said an industrial camera containing radioactive material had gone missing — but it noted that the material is sealed and said the risk of exposure is “very low.”