nuclear-news

Smuggling of nuclear materials continues

Nuclear Smugglers Still At Work, National Journal Online, By James Kitfield, March 11, 2010 The world is fast approaching a nuclear tipping point, many experts warn. And one key reason is a global smuggling network that traffics in nuclear technologies, materials, and know-how. National Journal spoke recently with David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security and a former weapons inspector in Iraq, about this network and what it means to the world’s stability and safety….secret sharing and clandestine smuggling networks have enabled proliferation since the dawn of the nuclear age……

Albright……it happened in Pakistan and it may be happening in North Korea as we speak. Khan’s clients included North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Libya. So Khan and his smuggling buddies developed a transnational network that did what only states were capable of in the past, which is sell facilities for enriching uranium along with weapons designs. That smuggling network bypassed all international controls on the transfer of nuclear technology, and it operated largely undetected for years…

..Albright: ……… U.S. intelligence agents tell me that the Pakistani nuclear weapons program is not as airtight as Islamabad insists. When you understand how much money is involved in this trade; how much of it is conducted offshore and outside the gaze of watchful eyes; and how hard it is to monitor or police people-to-people transfers of information, equipment or materials, you can’t help but worry about the fact that Al Qaeda continues to operate in Pakistan..

National Journal Online — Insider Interviews — Nuclear Smugglers Still At Wor

March 12, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive