IAEA chief says nothing serious found at Iran nuclear site
Updated: Thursday, November 05, 2009
Photographer: WashingtonTV
IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei & Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi (Tehran, 4 October 2009)
17:25GMT—12:25PM/EST
Washington, 5 November (WashingtonTV)—In remarks published on Thursday, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said that his inspectors found nothing serious during a first look at a previously disclosed uranium enrichment facility in Iran.
The nuclear site, near the city of Qom, was revealed by Iran in September, three years after diplomats said Western intelligence agencies first detected it.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, told the New York Times that the agency’s inspectors, who visited the site last month, had found “nothing to be worried out.”
“The idea was to use it as a bunker under the mountain to protect things,” he said, alluding to Iran’s references to the site as a backup in case its Natanz uranium enrichment plant was bombed.
“It’s a hole in a mountain,” he added.
Details on the inspections are expected to be included in the nuclear agency’s next report on Iran’s nuclear program, due in mid-November, reports Reuters.
Sources: New York Times, Reuters
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