IAEA discounts significance of ISIL-seized N-material

The United Nations nuclear body has assessed that the nuclear material reported seized by ISIL terrorist at Mosul University in Iraq is not of a high enough grade to pose any major security threat.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated on Thursday that the material believed to be in possession of the Takfiri terrorists was “low grade.”
“On the basis of the initial information, we believe the material involved is low grade and would not present a significant safety, security or nuclear proliferation risk,” IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said.
He added that the agency “is aware of the notification from Iraq and is in contact to seek further details.”
The remarks by the IAEA were made in response to a letter written by Iraq’s UN Ambassador Ali al-Hakim informing the world body that the militants had seized nuclear material used for scientific research at a university located in northern Iraq.
“Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state,” al-Hakim had written in the letter, warning that such materials could “be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.”
He also warned against the possibility that the weapons might be smuggled out of Iraq.
Iraq has been witnessing violence since June 10, when the ISIL took control of Mosul, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.