IAEA chief Rafael Grossi recently reported that 10 barrels of natural uranium have disappeared from a Libyan test site. After atomic energy experts sounded the alarm, the missing barrels were found.

According to media reports, the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army found barrels of uranium near the border with Chad. They were five kilometers from their previous storage point.

Experts will check

It should be noted that a dangerous chemical element was found in territory not controlled by the Libyan government.

The IAEA is now “working to verify” the reports of the national army and is trying to find out who moved the uranium barrels and why.

Reference . Uranium is a naturally occurring element that, after being refined or enriched, can be used in the nuclear industry.

However, the uranium missing from Libya cannot be used to create nuclear weapons in its current state. It can be used as raw material for the creation of nuclear weapons.

What came before

• The journalists got a confidential statement of the head of the IAEA Rafael Grossi for member countries, in which he said that the storage site of uranium ore concentrate in Libya is now empty. It is not known where the barrels with the dangerous substance disappeared.
• The inspection of this facility was scheduled for 2022, but then it was postponed due to the “security situation in the region.” As a result, the inspection was carried out as early as March 14, 2023.
• “During an inspection on Tuesday, International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors “found that 10 drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of UOC (Uranium Ore Concentrate) previously declared (by Libya) were not present on site,” it said. in a statement by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.
• He noted that the loss of information about the current location of nuclear materials could pose a radiation risk as well as nuclear safety issues. The IAEA promised to find out the circumstances of the removal of uranium from the site, the name of which was not indicated, as well as to find the “lost” 10 barrels of uranium.