Suspected Nuclear Facility Sighted in Syria

From NTI - Global Security Newswire

A site near the Syrian capital of Damascus has gained attention among Western intelligence services as a possible one-time host to undisclosed atomic activities in the Middle Eastern nation, Reuters reported (see GSN, Feb. 16).

Photographs believed to depict the interior of the Marj as Sultan site, when combined with other details, "allow for the first time the credible suspicion that Syria was in the process of setting up a facility for so-called uranium conversion," the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung reported.

"This facility could have been related to the process of making fuel for the planned [Dair Alzour] reactor," the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security added in an analysis of satellite images of the site (Shields/Dahl, Reuters, Feb. 24).

The assessment suggests the placement and shape of the building were indicative of a uranium conversion reactor, the Wall Street Journal quoted the report as saying (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 24).

Equipment reported to have been housed at the site "is consistent with what would be expected in a small uranium conversion facility," which might have been intended to refine milled uranium "yellowcake" into uranium tetrafluoride, an intermediate product in the production of uranium fuel, the document states.

"Missing is any equipment to turn uranium tetrafluoride into uranium metal, a crucial step in producing uranium fuel for [a Dair Alzour-type] reactor," the analysis says (Global Security Newswire, Feb. 24).

Syria might have scrambled to cover up possible atomic work at the Marj as Sultan site in the aftermath of the 2007 Israeli airstrike that destroyed the Dair Alzour facility, Agence France-Presse quoted the ISIS report as saying (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Feb. 24).

Satellite photographs taken on July 25, 2008, show increased work at the site, Reuters quoted the analysis as saying. "This activity may represent an effort to lay down a new concrete or asphalt foundation around the building," it states (Shields/Dahl, Reuters).

"The facility's operational status is unknown. However, there is suspicion that Syria may have emptied the buildings prior to mid-2008 and taken steps to disguise previous activities at the site," AFP quoted the ISIS report as saying. "Laying down a new foundation could be an attempt to defeat the environmental sampling that IAEA inspectors would likely carry out to see if uranium was present in the event of a visit to these suspect sites."

The photographs were taken months following an International Atomic Energy Agency for additional inspections in Syria. The nation has denied multiple IAEA requests for visits to the Dair Alzour site and other locations. Inspectors were prohibited from Dair Alzour after a June 2008 visit turned up traces of anthropogenic natural uranium. Syria has rejected accusations it had engaged in illicit nuclear activities, though it suspended cooperation with the U.N. watchdog following the 2008 visit.

The Marj as Sultan location and two other sites appeared "functionally related" to the destroyed Dair Alzour facility, the ISIS report says, referring to details obtained from the German news report and the U.N. nuclear watchdog (Agence France-Presse).