About 2.5 tons of natural uranium has disappeared from a facility in Libya, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports, noting that its inspectors during a visit last Tuesday found that ten containers of concentrated natural uranium (yellow pie) were no longer at the declared facility. Libyan authorities. And the UN body said it would conduct “additional” verification operations to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance of this nuclear material and its current location, warning of the risks associated with radiation and nuclear safety. Ten containers containing about 2.5 tons of natural uranium in in the form of uranium concentrate (yellow cake) is no longer in the place declared by the authorities.

The agency also indicated that it would conduct “additional” verification operations to “determine the circumstances of the disappearance of this nuclear material and its current location,” adding: “Not knowing the current location of nuclear materials could pose a radiological hazard in addition to concerns related to nuclear safety.” . He added: “Accessing the facility requires ‘difficult logistics’.

And Libya abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003 during Gaddafi’s rule, which included centrifuges capable of enriching uranium, as well as information on the design of a nuclear bomb, but did not make significant progress in making a bomb.

Since his ouster in 2011, the country has been mired in a major political crisis as two governments struggle for power, one in the capital Tripoli (west) led by United Nations-recognised Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba and the other in Sirte (centre) led by with Fathi Bashaga with the support of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, a man of power in eastern Libya.