Authorities will need to deal cautiously with "dangerous chemical material" that has been stored in southern Lebanon for decades, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Friday. The comments came during a meeting with the Higher Defence Council, a government body headed by President Michel Aoun. Mr Aoun has said the Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission will be "taking the necessary steps" to deal with the material, stored in the Zahrani Oil Facilities since the 1950s, as well as radioactive waste stocked in the commission's offices since the 1970s. Mr Diab said the material at Zahrani was identified as "high-quality nuclear chemicals" by the commission and German company Combi Lift, which the government had put in charge of disposing of dangerous chemicals after the deadly explosion at Beirut port last August. The news caused outrage across the country, as it reminded Lebanese of the chemicals that caused the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/beirut-blast-was-like-a-small-nuclear-weapon-says-explosives-expert-1.1060123">Beirut port blast</a>. A presidential representative told <em>The National</em>, however, that the chemicals were not a safety hazard. "The material at Zahrani is used for research and has been stored there since the 1950s. It does not pose any danger," the representative said. A communique from the General Directorate for Oil indicated that there is only 1.2 kilogrammes of nuclear material, that it is used for research purposes only and that "there is no need for fear or concern". "It will be transported in a special car on Monday to the offices of the National Council for Scientific Research," the statement read. The unsafe storage for six years of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, an explosive material also used as fertiliser, was the cause of the Beirut port explosion, which killed more than 200 people and destroyed half of the city. The investigation into the explosion at the port has yet to yield results. Combi Lift declined to comment on the report. The company had identified 58 containers at the port containing hazardous material after the blast but the cash-strapped Lebanese government has yet to pay the $2 million for the company to ship the chemicals to Germany for treatment. Mr Diab has been acting in a caretaker capacity after resigning from his post in the aftermath of the explosion. Wrangling over ministerial posts between Lebanon's sectarian political factions has stalled government formation for eight months.