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 Pakistan
Pakistan is not a member of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty either. Pakistan
covertly developed nuclear weapons over many
decades, beginning in the late 1970s. Pakistan
first delved into nuclear power after the
establishment of its first nuclear power plant
near Karachi with equipment and materials
supplied mainly by western nations in the early
1970s. Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto promised in 1965 that if India built
nuclear weapons Pakistan would too, "even if we
have to eat grass." It is nearly certain that
China only supplied (sold) 5000 critical ring
magnets to Pakistan in the early 1980s, and
enabled Pakistan to have a rudimentary nuclear
weapons capability by the end of the 1980s. The
United States continued to certify that Pakistan
did not possess nuclear weapons until 1990, when
sanctions were imposed under the Pressler
Amendment, requiring a cutoff of U.S. economic
and military assistance to Pakistan. In 1998,
Pakistan conducted its first nuclear tests at
the Chagai Hills, in response to the tests
conducted by India a few weeks before.
 North
Korea
North Korea was a member of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, but announced a
withdrawal on January 10, 2003 after the United
States accused it of having a secret uranium
enrichment program and cut off energy assistance
under the 1994 Agreed Framework. In February
2005 they claimed to possess functional nuclear
weapons, though their lack of a test at the time
led many experts to doubt the claim. However, in
October 2006, North Korea stated that due to
growing intimidation by the USA, it would
conduct a nuclear test to confirm its nuclear
status. North Korea reported a successful
nuclear test on October 9, 2006 (see 2006 North
Korean nuclear test). Most U.S. intelligence
officials believe that North Korea did, in fact,
test a nuclear device due to radioactive
isotopes detected by U.S. aircraft; however,
most agree that the test was probably only
partially successful. The yield may have been
less than a kiloton, which is much smaller than
the first successful tests of other powers;
however, boosted fission weapons may have an
unboosted yield in this range, which is
sufficient to start deuterium-tritium fusion in
the boost gas at the center; the fast neutrons
from fusion then ensure a full fission yield.
North Korea conducted a second, higher yield
test on May 25, 2009 (see 2009 North Korean
nuclear test).
Undeclared nuclear states
 Israel
Israel is not a member of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty and refuses to
officially confirm or deny having a nuclear
arsenal, or having developed nuclear weapons, or
even having a nuclear weapons program. Israel
has pledged not to be the first country to
introduce nuclear weapons into the region, but
is also pursuing a policy of strategic ambiguity
with regard to their possession. In the late
1960s, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yitzhak
Rabin informed the United States State
Department, that its understanding of
"introducing" such weapons meant that they would
be tested and publicly declared, while merely
possessing the weapons did not constitute
"introducing" them. Although Israel claims that
the Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona is
a "research reactor", or, as was originally
claimed, a "textile factory," no scientific
reports based on work done there have ever been
published. Extensive information about the
program in Dimona was also disclosed by
technician Mordechai Vanunu in 1986.
According to the Natural Resources Defense
Council and the Federation of American
Scientists, Israel possesses around 75–200
weapons. Imagery analysts can identify
weapon bunkers, mobile missile launchers, and
launch sites in satellite photographs. Israel
may have tested a nuclear weapon along with
South Africa in 1979, but this has never been
confirmed (see Vela Incident).
On May 26, 2008, former US president Jimmy
Carter stated that Israel has “150 or more
nuclear warheads” at a press conference at the
annual literary Hay festival in Wales.
States alleged to have nuclear weapons programs
Below are countries which have been accused by
Israel or the United States of currently
attempting to develop nuclear weapons
technology.
 Iran
A U.S. National Intelligence Estimate of
December 3, 2007 judged with "high confidence"
that Iran had an active nuclear weapons program
which was halted in fall 2003 and with "moderate
confidence" that it remained halted as of
mid-2007. The estimate further judged that US
intelligence did not know whether Iran intended
"to develop nuclear weapons," but that "Iran
probably would be technically capable of
producing enough HEU [highly enriched uranium]
for a weapon sometime during the 2010-2015 time
frame" if it decides to do so. IAEA Director
General ElBaradei noted in particular that the
Estimate tallies with the Agency's consistent
statements over the last few years that
"although Iran still needs to clarify some
important aspects of its past and present
nuclear activities, the Agency has no concrete
evidence of an ongoing nuclear weapons program
or undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran."
Iran's representative to the UN has explained
that Iran categorically rejects the development
of nuclear weapons and Iran is guaranteed the
right to peaceful nuclear technology under the
NPT.
 Syria
On September 6, 2007, Israel bombed an
officially unidentified site in Syria which it
later asserted was a nuclear reactor under
construction (see Operation Orchard). The
alleged nuclear reactor was not yet operational
and no nuclear material had been introduced into
it. Top U.S. intelligence officials claimed low
confidence that the site was meant for weapons
development, noting that there was no
reprocessing facility at the site.[48] Press
reports[49] indicated the air strike followed a
shipment delivery to Syria by a North Korean
freighter, and that North Korea was suspected to
be supplying a reactor to Syria for an alleged
nuclear weapons program. On October 24, 2007 the
Institute for Science and International Security
released a report which identified a site
next to the Euphrates River in eastern Syria's Deir ez-Zor Governorate province, about 11
kilometers north of the village of At Tibnah, at
35°42′27.05″N 39°49′58.83″E / 35.7075139°N
39.8330083°E / 35.7075139; 39.8330083 ), as the
suspected reactor. The building appeared to
match the external structure of the North Korean
5 megawatt reactor at Yongbyon Nuclear
Scientific Research Center, and is surrounded by
a security barrier and hidden within a small
side canyon off the main river valley. After
refusing to comment on the reports for six
months, the White House briefed Congress and the
IAEA on April 24, 2008, saying that the U.S.
Government was "convinced" that Syria had been
building a "covert nuclear reactor" that was
"not intended for peaceful purposes." Syria
denounced "the fabrication and forging of facts"
in regards to the incident. IAEA Director
General Mohamed ElBaradei criticized the strikes
and deplored that information regarding the
matter had not been shared with his agency
earlier.
 Myanmar
A report in the `Sydney Morning Herald' and
Searchina, a Japanese newspaper, report that two
Myanmarese defectors saying that the Myanmar
junta was secretly building a nuclear reactor
and plutonium extraction facility with North
Korea's help, with the aim of acquiring its
first nuclear bomb in five years. According to
the report, "The secret complex, much of it in
caves tunneled into a mountain at Naung Laing in
northern Burma, runs parallel to a civilian
reactor being built at another site by Russia
that both the Russians and Burmese say will be
put under international safeguards." In
2002, Myanmar had notified IAEA of its intention
to pursue a civilian nuclear program. Later,
Russia announced that it would build a nuclear
reactor in Myanmar. There have also been reports
that two Pakistani scientists, from the AQ Khan
stable, had been dispatched to Myanmar where
they had settled down, to help Myanmar's
project. Recently, the David Albright-led
Institute for Science and International Security
rang alarm bells about Myanmar attempting a
nuclear project with North Korean help. If true,
the full weight of international pressure will
be brought against Myanmar, said officials
familiar with developments. But equally, the
information that has been peddled by the
defectors is also "preliminary" and could be
used by the west to turn the screws on Myanmar
-- on democracy and human rights issues -- in
the run-up to the elections in the country in
2010.[citation needed] During an ASEAN meeting
in Thailand in July 2009, US secretary of state
Hillary Clinton highlighted concerns of the
North Korean link. "We know there are also
growing concerns about military cooperation
between North Korea and Burma which we take very
seriously," Clinton said. |
