The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded that Syria’s former authorities failed to declare nuclear material, facilities and activities, after new inspections added physical evidence to the watchdog’s long-running assessment of a suspected reactor project at Deir Ezzor.
A confidential IAEA report seen by AFP said recently uncovered cooling infrastructure at the eastern Syrian site was consistent with a nuclear reactor. Inspectors visited Deir Ezzor in August and also examined another location that Syria identified as connected to nuclear material. The agency said it would continue monitoring the reactor site as excavation work advanced.
The report described the Deir Ezzor installation as an unfinished gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor. It also listed a plant where fuel for the reactor was manufactured and a storage location holding fuel, uranium scrap and waste. Together, the verification work and information supplied by Syria enabled the agency to establish that the previous government had not met its reporting obligations.
Inspectors accounted for roughly 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal, the report said. About 55 tonnes were in fuel rods, while the balance consisted of uranium scrap and waste. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi had said during an August visit to Damascus that inspectors found several tonnes of nuclear material at a location the Syrian authorities disclosed to the agency in July.
Grossi also visited Deir Ezzor during that trip. The site had been closed for 18 years, leaving the agency to compare fresh physical observations with the assessment it developed after the facility was destroyed. The exposed cooling works supplied a new, visible feature for inspectors to evaluate as Syrian excavation continued.
The watchdog also visited two other locations on August 19 but found no nuclear material or equipment there. Environmental samples collected during those visits were still being analyzed when the report was prepared, leaving part of the verification process open. Those negative searches did not alter the declared inventory at the other location or the agency’s conclusion about the former authorities’ reporting failures.
The findings strengthen an assessment the IAEA first made years earlier. In 2011, the agency said the structure at Deir Ezzor was very likely a nuclear reactor. Israel acknowledged in 2018 that it carried out a secret airstrike on the site in 2007. U.S. officials said in 2008 that Syria had been attempting to build a covert reactor and that Israel destroyed it. Information available to the IAEA had also suggested North Korean assistance with the project.
The newest report distinguishes between the conduct of the former government under Bashar al-Assad and the response of the current Syrian authorities. Grossi welcomed what he called Syria’s transparency and cooperation. The agency said Syria had begun correcting the reporting failures by submitting the required nuclear-material accounting reports and design information for the facilities.
The case is not closed. Excavation at Deir Ezzor is continuing, environmental testing remains unfinished, and the agency is still monitoring activity at the site. But the inspection record now goes beyond an earlier technical assessment: the IAEA says it has established both the nature of the infrastructure and the former authorities’ failure to disclose the connected nuclear program.
