Cairo - The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Thursday denied media reports that traces of highly enriched uranium had been found in the country by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA detected the traces at the Inshas research reactor in 2007 and 2008, according to an annual report on the agency's nuclear inspection activities made available to the German Press Agency dpa on Wednesday.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry described the media reports as "mixed-up and old."

Egypt has clarified the misunderstandings around this issue to the IAEA and the agency agrees with Egypt's explanation, the statement added.

The country has asked its delegation to the IAEA to raise the issue and get clarification from the agency, said foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki.

Egypt told the IAEA it believed the particles came to the country as contamination on containers of radioisotopes. Radioisotopes are used in medicine and industry, and can be produced in reactors powered by highly enriched uranium.

The IAEA report did not state whether the uranium was enriched to such a high degree that it could be used for nuclear weapons. (dpa)