Greenpeace Asks IAEA to Investigate Missing Material From Iraqi Tuwaitha Nuclear Site

Greenpeace has called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate missing radioactive materials from the Tuwaitha nuclear complex in Iraq, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said yesterday (see GSN, July 20).

In a letter sent to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, the international environmental group said that a mission it sent to Iraq last year detected radioactive contamination in the communities near Tuwaitha, according to Agence France-Presse.

The agency plans to send inspectors to Iraq, but only to check sites covered under IAEA safeguards, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. 

“During the upcoming inspection, the IAEA must identify the radioisotopes and other dangerous materials still missing,” Greenpeace said. The U.N. agency should also compare prewar inventories of radioactive materials against the 1.7 tons removed by the United States to determine how much could be found in communities or obtained by terrorists, the environmental group added.

“When it comes to the possibility of loose nukes and terrorists building so-called dirty bombs, U.S. assurances that ‘roughly’ 1,000 highly radioactive sources had been taken out of harm’s way are simply not good enough,” Greenpeace said.

Fleming said that ElBaradei is considering Greenpeace’s request (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 3).

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