KUN0097 4 GEN 0286 KUWAIT /KUNA-FKO0 POL-UN-IAEA-COUNCIL IAEA warns council nuclear material removed from Iraq after war UNITED NATIONS, April 15 (KUNA) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA) on Thursday expressed concern that nuclear material have been removed from Iraq lately and warned against the proliferation risk associated with their disappearance to unknown destinations. In a letter to the Security Council, the IAEA chairman Mohamed Elbaradei said the agency's review of satellite imagery over the past few months showed that there has been "extensive removal" of equipment and, in some instances, "removal of entire buildings." He said other information available to the Agency, confirmed through visits to other countries, indicates that large quantities of scrap, some of it contaminated, have been transferred out of Iraq, from sites monitered by the IAEA. "It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq, or as part of systematic efforts to rehabilitate some of the locations," he noted. "In any event," he added, "these activities may have a significant impact on the Agency's continuing of knowledge of Iraq's remaining nuclear-related capabilities and raise a concern with regards to the proliferation risk." He said the US government has been informed of the agency's findings and "clarifications are expected." In the meantime, he said, member states, including the US, are expected to provide to the Agency any information relevant to prohibited programmes in Iraq with a view to enabling it to fulfill its responsibilities under council resolutions and Non-Proliferation Treaties. IAEA representative in New York Gustavo Zlauvinen told KUNA that "we don't know exactly when the nuclear material was moved, who moved it, because we only looked at the satellite pictures. We are comparing the pictures - past and present - and see some machinery have been moved and some equipment have been found in scrap". He added that some four tons of radio-active contaminated scrap, apparently coming from Iraq, were found in the Netherlands and the Government there is conducting an investigation. "Somebody is selling that metal. The question is whether some of the people are removing the nuclear equipment out of Iraq for the black market. We have to investigate this," he said. UNMOVIC spokesman Ewen Buchanan also told KUNA that half a dozen of missile engines were found in a scrap yard in the Netherlands recently and we are trying to investigate. "We are talking to governments and we may send a team there to look because it is difficult to identify things from photographs. He sent UNMOVIC sent a note to the council president recently keeping them informed. (end) sj.rk