Syria: 73 Tons of Uranium Under Surveillance Following an Undeclared Nuclear Program

Uranium in Syria from the former undeclared nuclear program is now under international monitoring. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has placed approximately 73 tonnes of natural uranium found at the end of its investigation under safeguards, while its Director General Rafael Grossi stated on Monday, September 7, that the Deir ez-Zor reactor, destroyed in 2007, could have quickly produced fissile material usable for military purposes.

This assessment does not mean that Syria possessed a nuclear weapon nor that the intention of the former Bashar al-Assad regime has been established. Rafael Grossi specifically emphasized that the reactor’s configuration posed a significant proliferation risk, but that the IAEA could not determine the ultimate objective pursued by the Syrian authorities at the time.

The recovered stock consists of natural metallic uranium primarily intended to serve as fuel. IAEA inspectors were able to inventory the material and place it under safeguards, with monitoring devices. Natural uranium is not directly usable in a nuclear weapon, but such a reactor could have allowed, once operational, the production of plutonium from the irradiated fuel.

The reactor, built in the province of Deir ez-Zor and nearly completed when it was destroyed by an Israeli strike in September 2007, had long been presented by Damascus as a non-nuclear facility. However, the IAEA concluded as early as 2011 that the building very likely corresponded to a nuclear reactor that should have been declared under Syria’s safeguards obligations.

The change of power in Damascus has allowed the investigation to progress. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad at the end of 2024, the new Syrian authorities have opened several sites and provided additional information to the inspectors. This cooperation comes as Syria is also addressing other cases inherited from the former regime, notably the destruction under international supervision of its former chemical weapons.

Recent inspections have enabled the agency to reconstruct the fuel chain and address the main questions that had remained unresolved for nearly two decades. The IAEA continues, however, to monitor the uranium stockpile, the fate of which will need to be decided with the Syrian authorities within the framework of international safeguards rules.

For Rafael Grossi, the clarification of the file constitutes an important step in closing a longstanding dispute between Damascus and the agency. The monitoring of the equipment must now prevent it from being moved or used without international oversight.