UNITED NATIONS, November 18. /TASS/. The discovery of anthropogenic uranium particles at an undeclared Iranian facility has no relation to the issue of nuclear non-proliferation, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told TASS on Monday.
The AFP news agency reported last week, citing a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that the organization’s experts had discovered uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at a location in Iran not declared to the agency.
Commenting on the report, the Russian diplomat said: "As far as the discovery of anthropogenic uranium traces at an undeclared facility is concerned, I would like to stress that this is a routine occurrence."
"Particles of anthropogenic uranium, which appeared there about 15-30 years ago, have no relation to the threat of the proliferation of nuclear weapons," Ulyanov continued. "The issue is not worth the attention which is now being paid to it."
Moscow believes that "this information should not have been published, because the report, submitted to the Board of Governors, is related to the implementation of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program] and the [UN Security Council] Resolution 2231," the Russian envoy continued.
He went on to say that the IAEA Secretariat has questions "not to one country, but to, at least, several of them" regarding the completeness of States' declarations under comprehensive safeguards agreements.
"Situations of this kind emerge regularly, and are solved in the course of routine work, without reports to the Board of Governors," Ulyanov said. "In extreme cases, the inconsistencies are reflected in the annual Safeguards Implementation Report.".