Lebanon warns of ‘dangerous nuclear chemicals’ at oil facility

BEIRUT – The prime minister who is leaving Lebanon said on Friday that experts had found “dangerous chemicals” in a deposit at Zahrani’s oil facilities in the south.

Hassan Diab said the country’s atomic energy authority identified the substances as “nuclear” after reviewing a report by the German company Combi Lift, which Lebanon commissioned to clean up hazardous materials at the port of Beirut.

A Combi Lift spokesman confirmed to Reuters that the company was in talks with Lebanon over potential recovery projects at the Tripoli and Zahrani refineries, but said there were still no concrete results.

“We don’t want to comment on the possible findings,” said the spokesman.

Diab called for action without giving further details.

But the Lebanese oil board said the containers, which totaled 1.2 kg (2.7 lb), were used only for research and would be transferred next week for safe storage.

Diab’s office has served as an interim since he resigned due to the devastation that last August’s explosion caused in much of the Lebanese capital, aggravating an already acute financial crisis.

After Lebanon hired the Combi Lift following the explosion, the German company said it found 58 containers at the port of Beirut that posed a threat to the city. Part of it had been there for over a decade.

German ambassador to Beirut, Andreas Kindl, said this month that the material was well packaged, but was still waiting to be sent to Germany for disposal, as Lebanon had not yet made a payment of nearly $ 2 million in the contract.

Combi Lift spokesman Malte Steinhoff said on Friday that these containers remained in Beirut amid talks with Lebanese officials about financing.

“We hope to find a solution this month,” he said.