nuclear-news

International Atomic Energy Agency to weak to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation

“The uranium-mining assistance appears to have assisted Pakistan in furthering its nuclear-weapons program,”..“What occurred was a lack of effective oversight.”…The IAEA’s failure to prevent the use of its aid for prohibited military purposes raises questions about its ability to police the nuclear material that it helps countries produce.

Pakistani Nuclear Weapons Program’s Aid From UN Shows Weakness of Watchdog, Bloomberg, By Jonathan Tirone – Dec 16, 2010 The United Nations agency tasked with curbing nuclear proliferation may have unwittingly helped Pakistan develop its atomic-weapons program because of weak internal oversight, according to documents and interviews with three former UN scientists.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency provided financial and technical aid to develop Pakistan’s uranium mines and improve plutonium-producing reactors even after the country tested a nuclear weapon in 1998 in defiance of a non- proliferation treaty, IAEA documents show.

While the IAEA aid was intended for civilian nuclear power, Pakistan used uranium from the mines for weapons, said three former agency scientists with direct knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified because they are prohibited from commenting by confidentiality agreements with the IAEA. Pakistan’s two atomic-energy plants run on fuel from China and uranium from Niger under IAEA safeguards, according to agreements with the Vienna-based agency.

“The uranium-mining assistance appears to have assisted Pakistan in furthering its nuclear-weapons program,” said Charles Ferguson, president of the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists and a physicist who has consulted for the U.S. State Department and the Energy Department. “What occurred was a lack of effective oversight.”

The IAEA’s failure to prevent the use of its aid for prohibited military purposes raises questions about its ability to police the nuclear material that it helps countries produce. The agency, winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, helped North Korea develop its uranium mines before the Asian country kicked inspectors out in 2003. Syria, under investigation since 2007 for what the U.S. alleges is a secret atomic-weapons program, uses an IAEA-built lab to produce uranium…..

Pakistani Nuclear Weapons Program’s Aid From UN Shows Weakness of Watchdog – Bloomberg

December 16, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Pakistan, weapons and war