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The UN nuclear agency said yesterday that 10 kg of uranium compounds are missing following looting of the Tuwaitha nuclear facility in Iraq.

The material included slightly enriched, natural and depleted uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, adding that it did not present a nuclear proliferation hazard.

"The team's estimate is that at least 10 kg of uranium compounds could have been dispersed... The quantity and type of uranium compounds dispersed are not sensitive from a proliferation point of view," it said in a statement.

The agency indicated it did not know how much uranium, if any, had actually left the facility. Some of the material, the report said, might have remained as dust within the buildings.

The IAEA sent a team to Iraq in June following reports that the facility, which was under its supervision, had been looted and many of the containers emptied.

The team found that looters had broken the seals it had placed on uranium containers during earlier visits, and had emptied about 200 containers, some of which were missing.

The material was stored in two buildings, one of which contained a variety of compounds and has been heavily looted.

The other building, held untreated uranium known as yellow cake and uranium waste, and the report said interference there had been only minor.

In the first building, the report said, "many containers were missing, many others had been emptied, and a large floor area was covered by uranium compounds.

The material on the floor was recovered and repackaged into new containers".

Although the missing uranium was not considered dangerous, the report said the IAEA's director general, Mohammed Elbaradei, will seek help from the US to ensure the return of any dispersed material and to provide protection for all other nuclear material in Iraq. - Sapa-AFP.

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