Roots of Nuclear
Proliferation
By Adnan Gill
Los Angeles, CA
Every
time an atom of uranium or plutonium finds its
way to the core of nuclear weapon, angels of “Manhattan
Project” ring a bell in Los Alamos. The
bells have not rung so often and so loud since
the Cold War ended. Any nation that feels insecure
or craves recognition pays homage to these angels.
Emperor Hirohito dreamt of it, Hitler strived
for it, but it was the American President Harry
Truman who on July 16, 1945 set the nuclear genie
loose in the deserts of Los Alamos.
On May, 02, 2006, Pakistan announced an end to
investigations surrounding the leaking of nuclear
secrets by the Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul
Qadeer Khan. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Tasnim Aslam announced, “[as far as Pakistan
is] concerned this chapter is closed.” With
these words Pakistan sent a strong message to
the world community.
The message was loud and clear:
1. We are displeased and disappointed with the
US for rewarding India by signing a discriminatory
nuclear deal despite India’s shady proliferation
and dismal nuclear safety record,
2. . We disapprove of the American strategy of
propping up India as a regional policeman.
3. Instead of winning friends for extending full
cooperation to the US and the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) in dismantling the so-called
A.Q. proliferation network Pakistan is being unwarrantedly
cornered; therefore Pakistan will protect its
strategic interests first and foremost by putting
an end to the witchhunt of its nuclear scientists
whose efforts and sacrifices significantly improved
Pakistan’s security.
Nuclear proliferation began with the production
of the first set of American nuclear weapons.
The US launched the practice by gifting the technology
to the UK and France. The latter passed it to
Israel and India. The rogue (socialist) elements
in the UK and the US exported the same technology
to the Soviet Union, which in turn gave it to
countries like China and India. China passed it
on to Pakistan who is said to have kept the tradition
alive by passing the technology on to Iran, Libya
and North Korea. Israel did its part by bringing
South Africa and Brazil onboard, as India lovingly
took Iraq, Vietnam, South Korea and especially
Iran under its wings.
The US proliferation started when it trained foreign
scientists from Britain, Canada and France in
the art of "Atomic Bomb" making during
the Manhattan project. In an effort to contain
communism before it could find its way out of
the Soviet Union the US started to pass on nuclear
technology to its friends under the garb of the
"Atoms for Peace" program. To this day
the world has not been able to recover from this
massive US proliferation.
Though the United States merits the dubious distinction
of being the original proliferator, it was soon
joined by a host of other wannabes. Following
is a brief history of international proliferation,
the actors involved and the end results.
Soviet Union: Great Soviet minds such as Yakov
Zel’dovich and Yuli Khariton were tinkering
with nuclear technology, but it took no less than
complete designs and data of American nuclear
weapons supplied by "Atom Spies" like
Klaus Fuchs and Rosenbergs to detonate the USSR’s
first nuclear device. The USSR detonated its first
nuclear device on 29 August 1949.
Britain: The British program directly benefited
from the American Manhattan Project when its scientists
like Geoffrey I. Taylor and William G. Penney
were sent to Los Alamos under the cover of 1943
Quebec Agreement. These scientists became the
nucleus for British post-war atomic weapons development
efforts. Under the Quebec Agreement, Canada supplied
plutonium for the first British nuclear device
(codenamed Hurricane).
Outcome of proliferation: Britain detonated its
first device on 15 September 1952.
France: The French scientists like Dr. Bertrand
Goldschmitt also worked with the Anglo-Canadian
team on the Manhattan Project. After the war,
he continued the weapons work in France.
Outcome of proliferation: The first French nuclear
test, codenamed Gerboise Bleue, was conducted
on 13 February 1960 at Reggane in Algeria.
China: China made tremendous gains from the Soviet
proliferation. In 1951 Peking signed a secret
agreement with Moscow through which China received
nuclear assistance in exchange for uranium ores.
In 1957, China and the USSR signed an agreement
on new technology for national defense, which
included additional Soviet nuclear assistance.
The Soviets also supplied China with a major gaseous
diffusion facility to enrich uranium.
Outcome of proliferation: China’s first
nuclear test was conducted at Lop Nor on 16 October
1964.
India: India is another beneficiary from the American-initiated
nuclear proliferation through the “Atoms
for Peace” program. During the 1950s and
later in the 1960s the US and Canada helped India
to lay the foundation of its nuclear weapons technology.
In 1956, Canada built the 40 megawatt Canada-India
Reactor, US (CIRUS) in India. The US supplied
heavy water for it. This reactor later became
the source of plutonium for India’s nuclear
devices tested in 1974 and 1998.
In 1963 India ordered two 210-megawatt reactors
from General Electric. India received its first
heavy water production plant from Germany in 1962
and then built additional seven heavy water plants
with help from France and Switzerland. Later on
in the 80s Norway and the Soviet Union became
the major suppliers of heavy water for India’s
unsafeguarded nuclear plants through a German
middleman named Alfred Hempel (a former Nazi who
shipped tons of heavy water via Dubai). In 1965,
Britain established the Gauribidnur Seismic Station
at BARC, which was used to develop and calibrate
fast-slow explosive lenses used in the 1974 nuclear
device.
In 1969, 30 Indian nuclear scientists, engineers,
and technicians traveled to France for training
and subsequent work on the designs of its fast
breeder reactor. In 1974, Canada agreed to provide
India blueprints for its CANDU reactor. The blueprints
enabled India to build its first reactor in Rajasthan.
Canada also funded the project by extending a
$37 million loan. In the 70s, the USSR assumed
the role of the main supplier of heavy water and
nuclear technology to India. During the 80s, India
clandestinely acquired and developed centrifuge
technology from the USSR and built uranium enrichment
plants at Trombay and Mysore. This clandestine
supply enabled the Indians to use reactors like
Dhruva to create plutonium for the atomic weapons
program.
Ironically, the Indian nuclear program is also
a partner of the A.Q. Khan network. According
to South African court documents, in the late
1980s and early 90s, the network organized the
production and delivery of flow meter units for
India’s gas centrifuge program. The network
provided additional sensitive items to the Indian
program, including feed and withdrawal equipment
for centrifuge cascades.
In January 1996, in a barefaced show of defiance
of a "Nuclear Suppliers Group" ban,
Moscow and New Delhi reached an agreement to build
two Russian nuclear reactors at Kudankalam in
Tamil Nadu. Not to be left behind, in March 2006,
President Bush also signed a nuclear cooperation
deal with India which will vastly enhance India’s
ability to manufacture about 50 nuclear weapons
per year.
Outcome of proliferation: India conducted its
first so-called "peaceful nuclear explosion,"
on 18 May 1974.
Israel: France laid the foundations of Israeli
nuclear program on 3 October 1957, by signing
an agreement to build a 24 MWt reactor (although
the cooling systems and waste facilities were
designed to handle three times that power) and,
a chemical reprocessing plant in Israel. Under
the leadership of Col. Manes Pratt of the IDF
Ordinance Corps a secret nuclear complex was constructed
at Dimona, Negev desert. France also supplied
heavy water and uranium for the Israeli plant
which went critical in 1964.
Since 1958, the United States had been well aware
of the Israel nuclear program, but it did nothing
to stop it. Walworth Barbour, US ambassador to
Israel from 1961-73, said the "President
did not send me there to give him problems. He
does not want to be told any bad news." After
the 1967 war, Barbour even put a stop to military
attachés' intelligence collection efforts
around Dimona. In 1966, upon learning Israel was
beginning to put nuclear warheads on its missiles,
the US embassy staff sent a warning message to
Washington, the message disappeared in thin air
and was never acted upon.
Outcome of proliferation: Israel is believed to
be in possession of up to 200 nuclear weapons,
and is suspected to have conducted a nuclear explosion
in the southern Indian Ocean in 1979 in collaboration
with South Africa.
South Africa: Israel introduced South Africa to
the exclusive nuclear weapons club.
In exchange for S. Africa’s 300 tons of
uranium Israel provided technical assistance for
its weapons program. "Oppenheimer of Israel"
Ernst David Bergmann and several other Israeli
nuclear scientists visited South Africa in 1967.
In 1974, Moshe Dayan secretly visited S. Africa
to discuss nuclear weapon cooperation, including
the possibility of nuclear tests. Between 1977
and 78 Israel received 50 tons of natural uranium
from S. Africa and in return supplied 30 grams
of tritium. Israel is also believed to have provided
a design of the bomb.
Outcome of proliferation: Till July 1990, South
Africa was in possession of six nuclear devices
and an additional partially completed device.
Brazil: The US proliferation to Brazil goes way
back to the 1940s when it signed an agreement
to transfer nuclear technology in exchange for
cooperative mining of uranium and monazite. In
1965, the US provided Brazil with medium-grade
enriched uranium for its first nuclear reactor.
In 1975, Brazil signed an un-safeguarded technology
transfer agreement with West Germany for a complete
nuclear fuel cycle, including enrichment and reprocessing
plants. The agreement called for Germany to transfer
eight nuclear reactors, a uranium enrichment facility,
plutonium reprocessing plant, and Becker "jet
nozzle" enrichment technology.
Outcome of proliferation: Brazilian nuclear weapons
program code-named "Solimões"
was exposed by members of the Comissão
Parlamentar de Inquérito. Instituto de
Estudos Avançados designed two nuclear
devices.
Iraq: Roots of Iraqi nuclear weapons program are
also traced back to US "Atoms for Peace"
program and to a Soviet-supplied research reactor.
In 1974 Saddam Hussein flew to India to sign a
nuclear cooperation treaty with the then Indian
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The treaty envisaged
the exchange of scientists, training, and technology.
Iraqi scientists worked in India's plutonium separation
labs. The same Iraqi scientists later took charge
of the nuclear fuel reprocessing unit supplied
to Iraq by an Italian company. Indian scientists
trained the Iraqis at the Atomic Energy Commission's
computer center on the use of nuclear computer
codes. In 1976, Iraq and France concluded an agreement
for MTR reactors. In 1979, Iraq sent engineers
on a visit to India's nuclear establishments.
During the same year, Iraq contracted the Italian
company SNIA-Techint to build pilot plutonium
separation and handling facility, and a uranium
refining and un-safeguarded fuel-manufacturing
plant. Iraq also obtained large amounts of uranium
from Portugal, Brazil and Nigeria.
Outcome of proliferation: An IAEA group in April
1992, announced Iraqi nuclear weapons program
plan was established in 1988. Iraq’s objective
was to produce its first nuclear weapon by 1991.
Iran: Iran is yet another example of American-initiated
proliferation through the “Atoms for Peace”
program. In the late 1960s a US supplied 5MW thermal
research reactor went online. In 1974, ‘76
and ‘77 Iran concluded several contracts
with the US, Germany and France for the construction
of nuclear plants and the supply of nuclear fuel.
In 1976, Iran signed a $700 million contract to
purchase uranium from South Africa. Ironically,
at one time during the Shah’s rule Iran
and Israel discussed a plan to modify Israel's
surface-to-surface Jericho missiles for use by
Iran. In 1995, Russia signed an agreement with
Iran to complete the construction of the Bushehr
reactors and to build three additional reactors.
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Tehran
in 1974to establish nuclear contacts between Iran
and India. In 1975 Iran hosted nuclear technical
advisers from India. On November 11, 1991 the
Indian Foreign Minister Sing Solanki signed a
technical cooperation deal with Iran providing
for the delivery of a 10MW reactor to Iran. An
Indian nuclear scientist Dr. Y.S.R. Prasad who
retired in 2000 made at least two visits to Iran’s
Bushehr nuclear facility. In December 2003, the
Indian external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha
said, "Most certainly between Iran and India,
there would be collaboration, there is collaboration".
In 2004, the US State Department blacklisted two
Indian scientists for nuclear proliferation to
Iran. The US State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher explained, "The cases reflected poor
Indian commitment to non-proliferation."
The US also sanctioned two Indian firms for selling
prohibited items to Iran.
Outcome of proliferation: In April 2006, Iranian
President Ahmadinejad declared "Iran has
joined the club of nuclear nations," which
meant Iran has completed enriched fuel cycle.
Those who view Pakistan’s amateurish attempts
at nuclear proliferation as unique or as a new
phenomenon either harbor malice in their hearts
or are selectively oblivious of the history of
nuclear proliferation. Their attempt is as spiteful
as it is deliberate. Those moralizing to Pakistan
are well advised to do some honest soul searching.
The nuclear proliferation genie set loose by President
Harry Truman will continue to wreak havoc till
the end of time or till every nation renounces
nuclear technology in all of its manifestations.
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