The new building was visible in satellite images taken on Wednesday and does not appear to be a reactor, said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security. It could be a warehouse or a shelter to hide excavation work at the bombed site, he said.
"We think that it's unlikely that it is (a reactor)," Albright said. "It's just very unlikely that if they were building a reactor secretly there, that they would turn around and start rebuilding it, and particularly this quickly."
The CIA declined to comment on the report. Israel has acknowledged carrying out the September 6 raid, but given no details on the target, which analysts speculated was a nascent Syria nuclear reactor. Syria denied having such a facility.
The new building was built after October 24, when satellite images showed the bombing ruins had been leveled, Albright said. "It's gone up quickly, so it can't be very elaborate," he said.
The photos also showed a line of trenches and sections of pipe running from the site to a possible water treatment facility. Earlier pictures had shown a pumping station at a nearby river and pipes running to the suspect site.
Any nuclear reactor would need a source of water for cooling and a way to exhaust it, Albright said. "There does seem to be some kind of a loop," in the photos, he said.
But he also said the building could merely be there to serve as a cover while Syria excavates structures from the old building. "We really don't know. Certainly that's a strategy that has been followed by others so that you could hide close-in work," he said.
Syria has denied U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency requests to visit the site.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
(Reuters Messaging:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
; +1 202 898 8300))
