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By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chided Egypt in a confidential report Monday for failing to declare nuclear sites and materials but said its inspections had so far found no evidence Cairo is seeking nuclear weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in the report obtained by Reuters that Egypt did not understand it had to declare some nuclear sites and materials, including a plant for separating plutonium, which can be used in an atomic bomb.
"The repeated failures by Egypt to report nuclear material and facilities to the agency in a timely manner are a matter of concern," the IAEA said in the report circulated to diplomats ahead of its Feb. 28 board of governors meeting.
The agency said it was still investigating, but added: "The nuclear material and facilities seen by the agency to date are consistent with the activities described by Egypt."
Egypt says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes only.
The IAEA began looking closely at Egypt last year after learning its scientists had worked with uranium and other materials that could be used to make atomic weapons.
One facility Egypt failed to report was a hydrometallurgy pilot plant designed to separate small amounts of plutonium, which Cairo said it never completed.
Egypt signed construction contracts for the laboratory with a foreign company in the late 1970s and should have declared it under a safeguards agreement which came into force in 1982.
Egypt said it conducted tests at the plant in 1987 that would not have produced plutonium, the report said, adding that the plant was now used for work other than plutonium separation.
There are legitimate uses for plutonium, such as in reactors and nuclear waste management. However, Egypt also has a history of conflict with its neighbor Israel, which is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons.
Egypt failed to provide a complete inventory of its nuclear materials in 1982, including some uranium metal, which is used in fuel rods but can also be used to make weapons, the report said, adding that some of the metal was imported and some was made by Egypt. The amounts involved were small, the report said.
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Here's the story
By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chided Egypt in a confidential report Monday for failing to declare nuclear sites and materials but said its inspections had so far found no evidence Cairo is seeking nuclear weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in the report obtained by Reuters that Egypt did not understand it had to declare some nuclear sites and materials, including a plant for separating plutonium, which can be used in an atomic bomb.
"The repeated failures by Egypt to report nuclear material and facilities to the agency in a timely manner are a matter of concern," the IAEA said in the report circulated to diplomats ahead of its Feb. 28 board of governors meeting.
The agency said it was still investigating, but added: "The nuclear material and facilities seen by the agency to date are consistent with the activities described by Egypt."
Egypt says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes only.
The IAEA began looking closely at Egypt last year after learning its scientists had worked with uranium and other materials that could be used to make atomic weapons.
One facility Egypt failed to report was a hydrometallurgy pilot plant designed to separate small amounts of plutonium, which Cairo said it never completed.
Egypt signed construction contracts for the laboratory with a foreign company in the late 1970s and should have declared it under a safeguards agreement which came into force in 1982.
Egypt said it conducted tests at the plant in 1987 that would not have produced plutonium, the report said, adding that the plant was now used for work other than plutonium separation.
There are legitimate uses for plutonium, such as in reactors and nuclear waste management. However, Egypt also has a history of conflict with its neighbor Israel, which is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons.
Egypt failed to provide a complete inventory of its nuclear materials in 1982, including some uranium metal, which is used in fuel rods but can also be used to make weapons, the report said, adding that some of the metal was imported and some was made by Egypt. The amounts involved were small, the report said.
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