[9] The reactor is owned and operated by Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) at the Nuclear Research Center in Inshas, 40–60 kilometres (25–37 mi) northeast of Cairo.
[4][8] In March 2001 and July 2002, the IAEA was investigating on the environmental samples which was taken from the ETRR-1's hot cells that revealed traces of actinides and fission products, which was explained by Egypt in July 2003, that the presence of the particles was attributed by a damaged nuclear fuel cladding resulted in contamination of the reactor water that penetrated the hot cells from irradiated sample cans.
[14][15] In 2004–2005, an investigation by IAEA discovered that between 1999 and 2003, Egypt conducted about 12 unreported experiments, performed using a total of 1.15g of natural uranium compounds and 9 thorium samples had been irradiated and conducted at the ETRR-1 to test the production of fission product isotopes for medical purposes.
The irradiated compounds had been dissolved in three laboratories, located in the Nuclear Chemistry Building with no plutonium or U-233 being separated during these experiments.
[13][14][16] Egypt justified its reporting failures, as the government and the IAEA had “differing interpretations” of Egypt's safeguards obligations and emphasizing that the country's “nuclear activities are strictly for peaceful purposes”[15] Accordingly, Egypt maintained full cooperation during the 2004–2005 investigation, and had taken corrective actions by submitting inventory change reports (ICRs) and providing a modified design information for the ETRR-1 reactor.