Iraq's shop-till-you-drop nuclear program

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00963402.1992.11460079· OSTI ID:6960850

Albright, D ^[1]; Hibbs, M

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1. Friends of the Earth, Washington, DC (United States)

In a series of articles that began in March 1991, the authors have tried to separate fact from fiction about Iraq's ability to build nuclear weapons and to produce material to fuel them. After exposing Iraq's efforts to enrich uranium and design an atomic bomb, UN and IAEA experts zeroed in on how Iraq put its program together. The basic answer is that along with determination and persistence, Iraq had a great deal of foreign help. Iraq's Petrochemical Three,' the secret nuclear program conducted under the authority of its Atomic Energy Commission with links to the Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization, received massive infusions of money and resources. Like the Manhattan Project that built the first atomic bombs in the United States, Iraq's program simultaneously pursued a number of different technical avenues to the bomb. Not knowing which efforts would succeed, Iraq poured billions of dollars into its multifaceted quest. Providing for these programs required the establishment of elaborate procurement networks in Europe, North America, and Asia. Like the technical quest, the procurement effort was carried out on many fronts at once. Diplomacy and secrecy were required, because few companies would knowingly supply a nuclear weapons program, or even a secret nuclear program that was ostensibly for civil purposes. Iraq showed great ingenuity in hiding its purchases behind such innocuous pursuits as automobile manufacturing, dairy production, and oil refining.

• OSTI ID: 6960850
• Journal Information: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; (United States), Journal Name: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; (United States) Vol. 48:3; ISSN BASIA; ISSN 0096-5243
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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