IAEA Media Advisory
IAEA Media Advisory 2003/2602 (26 February 2003)
News Update on Iraq Inspections
UNMOVIC IAEA Press Statement on Inspection Activities in Iraq, 26 February 2003
For full coverage, see the pages on IAEA and Iraq.
26 February 2003 -- An UNMOVIC biological team returned to the Al Aziziyah Range, where excavations of the R400 aerial bombs were under way. Iraq claims that these bombs filled with biological agents had been unilaterally destroyed in 1991. The team observed the excavation of a pit and inspected excavated munitions and fragments. UNMOVIC also conducted an aerial survey of the site.
One UNMOVIC missile team visited the Al Shika Company, which is involved in supplying support equipment for missile research and development. The team continued to verify Iraq’s declarations and establish a comprehensive monitoring mechanism. Another missile team traveled to the Al Amin Factory, where mechanical machining and hydrostatic testing of the Al Fatah and Al Abour motor cases are performed. The site also produces the warhead body for the Al Fatah cluster-type warhead. The team inspected and tagged equipment, which had previously been destroyed by the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) but subsequently repaired by Iraq. The team then traveled to the Al Basil Company, which produces oil, salt and detergents for civil industries. The team inspected and tagged one additional piece of equipment that had been destroyed by UNSCOM but repaired by Iraq. The tagged pieces of equipment were both related to a proscribed missile of the past and some of them are currently being used to produce parts for the Al Fatah missile.
An UNMOVIC chemical team resumed the destruction of mustard-filled artillery shells at the Al Muthana site. New procedures for drilling the shells were successfully tested. Another chemical team inspected the Al Naif Sulphonic Acid facility after a short visit to the Dar Al Salam Sulphuric acid facility to answer some follow-up questions from a previous inspection last week. The two facilities are side by side, some 80 km west of Baghdad.
A Mosul-based UNMOVIC multidisciplinary team and a biological team from Baghdad conducted a joint inspection of the Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Unit in Mosul. Another Mosul-based multidisciplinary team inspected the Badush Cement Factory, which belongs to the Northern Cement State Company.
One IAEA team inspected the Ibn Al Beythar Research Centre in the
Taji area north of Baghdad. This is a research centre for raw materials
for the medical industry. A second IAEA team conducted two private
interviews with engineers formerly associated with Iraq’s
former gas centrifuge enrichment programme. A third IAEA team performed
a car-borne radiation survey in the Zafaraniya area of Baghdad,
which included several large industrial sites.
Hiro Ueki
Spokesman for UNMOVIC and the IAEA in Baghdad
About the IAEA
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) serves as the world's foremost intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Established as an autonomous organization under the United Nations (UN) in 1957, the IAEA carries out programmes to maximize the useful contribution of nuclear technology to society while verifying its peaceful use.
Press Contacts
Marc Vidricaire
Director and Spokesperson
Division of Public Information
[43-1] 2600-21270
m.vidricaire@iaea.org
Melissa Fleming
Head of Media & Outreach/Spokesperson
Div. of Public Information
[43-1] 2600-21275
[43] 699-165-21275 (mobile)
m.fleming@iaea.org
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit the IAEA's Press Section, or call the IAEA's Division of Public Information at (431) 2600-21270.