AUSTRIA: HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY SAYS LABORATORY SCALE ACTIVITIES IN CLANDESTINE ATOMIC WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO DETECT
Record ID:
646714
AUSTRIA: HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY SAYS LABORATORY SCALE ACTIVITIES IN CLANDESTINE ATOMIC WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO DETECT
- Title: AUSTRIA: HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY SAYS LABORATORY SCALE ACTIVITIES IN CLANDESTINE ATOMIC WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO DETECT
- Date: 4th December 2003
- Summary: (W5) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (DECEMBER 4, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV IAEA HEAD MOHAMED ELBARADEI ENTERING ROOM, SITTING DOWN 0.07 2. CLOSE OF REPORTERS WITH NOTEBOOK 0.17 3. WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE 0.21 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) IAEA HEAAD MOHAMED ELBARADEI SAYING "It doesn't mean that the system is not strong enough or powerful enough to detect any industrial scale activities to develop weapons, so we need to distinguish that. Yes, Iran has been successfuly doing research and laboratory scale activities and these we were not able to detect and I think we won't be able to detect it in the future. But what the system is geared for is that, if a country moved from research to an industrial scale to develop weapons, I think the system now and all the technology that we have makes it highly unlikely that this kind or programme would go on undetected." 1.05 5. SLV MOHAMED ELBARADEI LEAVING ROOM 1.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 19th December 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Reuters ID: LVA1KY0BYJGTIVD32A9DU2HJERPC
- Story Text: Laboratory-scale activities in the early phases of a clandestine
atomic weapons programme are virtually impossible to detect,
the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Thursday.
Laboratory-scale activities in the early phases of a
clandestine atomic weapons programme are virtually
impossible to detect, the head of the United Nations
nuclear watchdog said on Thursday (December 4).
He added that it doesnt mean the Agency will not be
able to detect industrial scale activities.
In an interview with a small group of reporters,
Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the U.N.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), defended the
IAEA against critics who fault the agency for failing to
detect Iran's two-decade cover-up of potentially
weapons-related research.
"Yes, Iran has been successful in doing research and
laboratory activities and this we were not able to detect,
and I dont think we will be able to detect in the future,"
ElBaradei said.
"But...if a country moves from research R&D to an
industrial scale to develop weapons, I think the system,
with all the technology that we have, makes it highly
unlikely that this kind of programme would go on
undetected," he said.
The United States accuses Iran of using its nuclear
power programme as a front to build an atomic bomb, a
charge Tehran denies.
However, in October Iran acknowledged to the IAEA that
it hid a secret centrifuge uranium enrichment programme
from U.N. inspectors for nearly two decades.
It also acknowledged laboratory research that produced
small amounts of enriched uranium and reprocessed
plutonium, useable in a nuclear bomb.
While the IAEA concluded in a recent report that it had
seen no evidence Iran did have a covert weapons programme,
it said the jury was still out as to whether one existed.
ElBaradei also said Iran had not yet told him when it
would sign a protocol permitting more intrusive,
short-notice IAEA inspections though he expects Iran to
sign it shortly.
jrc/ab
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