Some 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored in a site in war-torn Libya have gone missing, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday, raising safety and proliferation concerns.
Natural uranium can't immediately be used for energy production or bomb fuel, as the enrichment process typically requires the metal to be converted into a gas, then later spun in centrifuges to reach the levels needed.
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However, each ton of natural uranium obtained by a group with the technological means and resources can be refined to 5.6 kilograms (12 pounds) of weapons-grade material over time, experts say.
In a statement, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said its director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, informed member states Wednesday about the missing uranium.
On Tuesday, "agency safeguards inspectors found that 10 drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of uranium ore concentrate were not present as previously declared at a location in the state of Libya," the IAEA said. "Further activities will be conducted by the agency to clarify the circumstances of the removal of the nuclear material and its current location."
One such declared site is Sabha, some 410 miles southeast of Libya's capital, Tripoli, in the country's lawless southern reaches of the Sahara Desert. There, Libya under dictator Moammar Qadhafi stored thousands of barrels of "yellowcake uranium" for a once-planned uranium conversion facility that was never built in his decadeslong secret weapons program.
While inspectors removed the last of the enriched uranium from Libya in 2009, the yellowcake remained behind, with the UN in 2013 estimating some 6,400 barrels of it were stored at Sabha. Sabha grew increasingly lawless, with African migrants crossing Libya, saying some had been sold as slaves in the city, the UN reported.
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In recent years, Sabha largely has been under the control of the self-styled Libyan National Army, headed by Khalifa Hifter. The general, who is widely believed to have worked with the CIA during his time in exile during Qadhafi's era, has been battling for control of Libya against a Tripoli-based government.
