Global Security Newswire, with comments by NPSGlobal, 23 Dec 2011.

Libya could face problems protecting 6,400 drums of unrefined uranium "yellowcake" against accidents or seizure over an extended period, prompting the International Atomic Energy Agency to press calls for the material to be sold and shipped abroad, the U.N. chief envoy to the North African state said on Thursday (see GSN, Nov. 23).

The Vienna, Austria-based organization dispatched officials who on Dec. 9 examined a yellowcake holding facility in Sabha as well as the Tajura atomic site in the Libyan capital, Reuters quoted Ian Martin as saying at a U.N. Security Council meeting.

"In an initial debriefing the IAEA conveyed its overall conclusion that none of the previously reported nuclear materials in either facility had gone missing," the official said.

Vulnerabilities at the Sabha facility and a gradual breakdown of the yellowcake's storage containers have prompted the U.N. nuclear watchdog to push for removal of the material, Martin said. The uranium presently poses no apparent danger, he added.

"The present safety and security measures at the facility are not deemed sufficient longer-term," the envoy said. "There appears, however, to be no risk of proliferation given the weight and state of the barrels."

United Nations and U.S. specialists confirmed the complete elimination of a Libyan nuclear arms initiative after the effort was formally ended in December 2003 by now-deposed dictator Muammar Qadhafi.

Separately, the international organization assigned to monitor nations' chemical arsenals was advancing in its assessment of two Libyan chemical warfare caches never openly revealed by the former Qadhafi regime, according to Martin.

Tripoli at the end of last month provided the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons with a comprehensive inventory of the substances, which have been relocated to the nation's previously known holding area for such materials, the official said. The international entity intends to send officials back to Libya in the middle of next month to collaborate with the country on housing the agents in a manner that minimizes their danger (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, Dec. 22).

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