U.S. Unsealing Sensitive Libyan Materials Under U.N. Supervision

By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. scientists under U.N. observation are beginning to examine Libyan nuclear materials that have been flown to the United States, officials and diplomats said this week (see GSN, Feb. 4).

Under an arrangement worked out by the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency, officials may already have removed seals from the Libyan materials, diplomats said. “If it hasn’t occurred yet, it will occur very shortly,” a Western diplomat said today.

IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog have in recent days conducted verification activities in the United States.

Tons of Libyan components, documents and other materials have been flown to Tennessee in recent weeks following Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi’s Dec. 19 pledge to end his country’s secret nuclear programs.

The U.S. inspection comes amid continuing revelations about a global nuclear underground fueled by Pakistani national hero Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has been pardoned by Islamabad after acknowledging he transferred nuclear technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea (see related GSN stories, today).

The IAEA has placed seals on what a U.S. official called “a small percentage” of the Libyan materials. Western diplomats in Vienna, where the IAEA is headquartered, said the U.N. agency will have inspectors present whenever seals are opened.

“The weapons blueprints are under IAEA seal, and IAEA people were in the U.S. over the last couple of days as part of our continued verification. All sensitive material is under IAEA seal,” Fleming said.

“We have full access until we finish our work,” she said.

It is unclear exactly what portion of the transported Libyan material is under IAEA safeguards. Although the U.S. official said most of the material is not sealed, several Western diplomats in Vienna said the most sensitive items have been sealed. One Western diplomat said material left unsealed “didn’t need to be” sealed.

The U.S. official said U.S. and IAEA representatives in Libya are cooperating to establish the safeguards status of materials recovered. “We are working cooperatively with them on the ground in Libya to determine which stuff will be under safeguards,” the official said.

One Western diplomat in Vienna said the United States has promised to respect the IAEA seals partly to protect the “chain of custody” of the Libyan materials.

“They can say that ‘we took it out of Libya; now here it is, untouched,’” the diplomat said.

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