‘Uranium particles’ detected at undeclared site in Iran: IAEA

VIENNA: The United Nations´ nuclear watchdog said it had detected uranium particles at an undeclared site in Iran in its latest report on the country´s nuclear programme issued on Monday. The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seen by AFP, says: “The agency detected natural uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at a location in Iran not declared to the agency.” While the IAEA itself has not named the site in question, diplomatic sources have previously said the agency has been posing questions to Iran relating to a site where Israel has alleged secret atomic activity in the past. Sources say the IAEA took samples from the site in the Turquzabad district of Tehran in the spring. Meanwhile, Tehran and Moscow inaugurated on Sunday a new phase of construction for a second reactor at Iran’s sole nuclear power plant in Bushehr on the Gulf coast. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and deputy chief of Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom, Alexander Lokshin, launched the new stage at a ceremony where concrete was poured for the reactor base.