A Syrian facility contained infrastructure consistent with a nuclear reactor, the UN nuclear watchdog said in a confidential report seen by AFP on Tuesday, while concluding that authorities under ousted former President Bashar Al-Assad failed to declare nuclear material, facilities and activities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its inspectors visited two locations last month: a site in Deir Ezzor and another location connected to nuclear material that Syria had identified.
"Based on observations made by the agency at the Deir Ezzor site, the agency confirms that the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor," the agency said. It added that monitoring would continue "as the excavation work progresses".
The IAEA said information supplied by Syria, together with its own verification work at several locations, enabled it to determine that the former Syrian authorities had not reported nuclear-related material, facilities and activities.
"Based on the information provided by Syria and the results of the agency's verification activities conducted at several locations in Syria, the agency is able to establish that the former Syrian authorities had failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities," it said.
The agency identified several components of the undeclared program. These included a "nuclear reactor under construction" at Deir Ezzor, a fuel fabrication facility where fuel for the reactor was produced, and a separate location used to store nuclear fuel, uranium scrap and waste.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said last month during a visit to Damascus that inspectors had discovered several tons of nuclear material at a site Syria reported to the agency in July. He commended Damascus for the "courageous decision" to disclose the previously unreported location, which dates to the Assad era.
According to the report, inspectors found approximately 73 tons of natural uranium metal", including 55 tons in the form of fuel rods, with the remainder consisting of uranium scrap and waste.
The agency said no nuclear material or equipment was discovered at two additional sites inspected on August 19. Environmental samples collected there are still awaiting analysis.
The IAEA also reaffirmed its earlier assessment that the reactor being constructed at Deir Ezzor was a gas-cooled, graphite-moderated nuclear reactor.
Grossi visited the Deir Ezzor site last month. The facility had been closed for 18 years.
Israel acknowledged in 2018 that it had conducted a secret airstrike against the site 11 years earlier. In 2008, less than a year after the attack, US officials accused Syria of attempting to construct a clandestine nuclear reactor and acknowledged that Israel had destroyed it in the strike.
The IAEA had already concluded in 2011 that the Syrian facility was "very likely" a nuclear reactor. The agency said at the time that information available to it indicated the project was being developed with assistance from North Korea.
Last month, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani acknowledged that Syria possesses nuclear material and announced that Syria would allow access to the site in Deir Ezzor.
A week prior, Syria and the IAEA reached an agreement whereby the IAEA would extract radioactive substances housed at an undisclosed facility in Syria.