Brussels, 06/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - According to western diplomats familiar with the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, its investigations had revealed that Egypt may have been carrying out secret nuclear experiments. Diplomats said the inspectors' findings so far had not been alarming enough to require reporting to the IAEA's board of governors. The Associated Press reported on 4 January that Egypt had produced several kilograms of material that could be processed into plutonium or enriched into weapons-grade uranium. Some of the experiments may have been conducted only a year ago, but their purpose remained unclear. The AP report suggests they involved small amounts of material and did not appear directed towards a large-scale programme (which would have to be reported to the IAEA under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Egypt signed in 1981 after seeking, unsuccessfully, to develop a nuclear programme through cooperation with the former Soviet Union, China and India).