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Shop NowOn March 16 the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog announced that over 2.5 tons worth of natural uranium that had been stored in a site in Libya have gone missing.
As a result, this shocking news has rose concerns for both safety and proliferation.
That Thursday evening, forces that are allied to a warlord currently battling against the Libyan government claimed the uranium was recovered. Now UN inspectors are attempting to confirm this claim.
The natural uranium cannot be immediately used for energy production or fuel for bombs, as the metal is required to be converted into a gas and spun in centrifuges to reach desired levels.
That being said, however, experts reveal that every one ton of uranium can be refined to about 12 pounds worth of weapons-grade material over time.
On March 15, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency released a statement regarding the missing uranium, although they kept quiet on any additional details.
According to IAEA:
“…agency safeguards inspectors found 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. Further activities will be conducted by the agency to clarify the circumstances of the removal of the nuclear material and its current location.”
The site was not specified by the IAEA, who also refused to respond to any additional questions from The Associated Press.
Apparently the IAEA explained to members reaching the site did require “complex logistics”, as reported by Reuters.
One of these declared sites is Sabha which is located over 410 miles southeast of Tripoli in the Sahara Desert.
