BEIRUT: A German company has claimed it found dangerous nuclear material stored in an oil facility in southern Lebanon, officials said on Friday.

The material was stored at Zahrani Oil Installation, 50 kilometres south of Beirut, according to a statement released after a meeting of Lebanon’s Higher Defence Council, the country’s top security and military body. In its statement, the council quoted outgoing Prime Minister Hassan Diab.

Lebanese authorities have been searching for hazardous material around the country after a deadly explosion in Beirut last year. The Aug 4 blast of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive chemical used in fertilisers, killed 211 people, wounded more than 6,000 and damaged several Beirut neighbourhoods.

During the Friday meeting, Diab told other officials that the material found by German company Combi Lift, which Lebanon had tasked with clearing hazardous material at Beirut port, is a highly pure nuclear substance and its presence poses dangers.

This matter should be discussed now and quick measures should be taken to deal with it with great concern, Diab said in the statement. He spoke after meeting the heads of all the country’s military and intelligence agencies as well as President Michel Aoun and the ministers of defence and interior.

In November, Lebanon signed a deal with Combi Lift to treat and ship abroad containers consisting of flammable chemicals found in the wreckage of Beirut port. Combi Lift completed the treatment of 52 containers of hazardous and dangerous chemical material and was ready to ship them outside the country, Germany’s ambassador to Lebanon said last month.

The deal between Lebanon and Combi Lift is worth $3.6 million, toward which port authorities in Lebanon paid $2 million, with the German government covering the rest.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2021