Iran silent on uranium

IRAN yesterday turned over to the UN nuclear agency documents on its past atomic energy activities, but the dossier apparently did not include the origin of traces of weapons-grade uranium found in the country.

“We have submitted a report fully disclosing all our past activities in the nuclear field,” Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters.

Neither Salehi nor IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei would detail the contents of the package of documents. ElBaradei said he expected the information to answer all outstanding questions about Iran’s nuclear activities.

However, Salehi indicated that the origin of traces of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium found in at least two different sites inside the country was not in the package.

Diplomats said earlier this week that Iran would provide the origin of the traces, which ElBaradei has called the most troubling aspect of Iran’s nuclear activities. Iran insists the contamination, found in environmental samples taken by agency experts, was imported on equipment it uses for peaceful nuclear purposes.

For months, it has resisted IAEA requests that it name the country of origin for the equipment so that experts can try and match isotope samples.