The Nuclear Fuel Research Laboratory is a UO2 fuel fabrication facility used for experimenting with the production of Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) fuel. It has a capacity of just over 0.1 tons of heavy metal per year. [2] The AEA constructed the laboratory with assistance and equipment from West Germany, and it became operational sometime between 1988 and 1989. [3]

Following IAEA citations in 2005 for safeguards violations at other locations, Egypt agreed to recategorize the laboratory as a declared nuclear facility, subject to IAEA safeguards. [4]

Key Sources:
[1] Nuclear Fuel Cycle Information System, "List of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities," International Atomic Energy Agency, www-nfcis.iaea.org.
[2] Judith Perera, "Nuclear Industry of Egypt," March 2003, p. 17, www.opensource.gov.
[3] Barbary M. Gregory, "Egypt's Nuclear Program: Assessing Supplier Based and Other Developmental Constraints," The Nonproliferation Review, Fall 1995, p. 23.
[4] IAEA, "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Arab Republic of Egypt: Report by the Director General," 14 February 2005, pp. 1-5, www.carnegieendowment.org.