Atomic Agency to Inspect Iraqi Nuclear Plants
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it has received approval to inspect Iraqi atomic power plants, a routine check that could shed light on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions.
The Vienna-based agency said it is prohibited from revealing the date of the inspection, but U.S. officials familiar with the process said that an IAEA team was scheduled to visit the Osirak plant on Thursday.
An IAEA spokesman said officials planned to examine the bomb-damaged plant as well as nuclear fuel-processing laboratories and storage sites to ensure that the Iraqi radioactive materials are being “used only for peaceful purposes.”
The Osirak plant, which contains Iraq’s sole nuclear reactor, was destroyed in an Israeli bombing raid in 1981.
In the wreckage of the reactor building are fuel rods containing about 25 pounds of enriched uranium, enough for one small nuclear weapon.
One of the duties of the IAEA inspectors who visit the site twice a year is to make sure that the fuel rods are still there.
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