Baghdad has informed the United Nations that Islamist insurgents have stolen uranium from a university in Iraq, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed, while pointing out that the material poses not much of a threat.
"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 about the material that was kept at Mosul University.
The IAEA said it is trying to follow up the theft that was reportedly carried out by the radical Sunni group the Islamic State, as "any loss of regulatory control over nuclear and other radioactive materials is a cause for concern."
Uranium can be used in nuclear weapons only after undergoing series of sophisticated processes, but nuclear experts worry that terrorists could pack relatively harmless nuclear material and conventional explosives into "dirty bombs" to spread fear rather than radiation.
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