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Psssst... Can I Get
A Bomb Trigger?

W

HEN it was revealed last week
that Iraq had tried to purchase
"aluminum tubes," it seemed to

many experts and certainly to the Bush
administration that Saddam Hussein
was continuing attempts to build a nuclear
weapon. The inference was partly based
on the shape and composition of the tubes,
which were much like those used in equip
ment to enrich uranium.

But keeping track of all of the equip-
ment and know-how that go into making a
nuclear bomb is rarely a simple task.
Some items have benign uses. Others, like
blueprints for making a bomb, have obvi-
ous implications. Following is a selection
of technologies and services that are
known to have been transferred to coun-
tries with nuclear ambitions all of
which raised suspicions regarding their ul
timate use.
TOM ZELLER

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High-Precision Switches

1998 These switches have legitimate and beneficial
uses, including in machines that pulverize kidney
stones. But they are also useful in detonating nuclear
weapons. Iraq bought six machines for treating kid-
ney stones, each containing one switch, and ordered
120 more switches as "spare parts. It is unclear how
many Iraq actually received.

Aluminum Tubes

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Unknown

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2002 High-strength aluminum can have benign ap-
plications, including production of aircraft parts, but
it is also one of the few materials that can withstand
the high rotational speeds required of gas centrifug-
es for uranium enrichment a key step in nuclear
bomb building.

Beryllium

1984 Although the material is used in
high-performance aircraft and spacecraft,
it is also used to received the power of nu
clear weapons, India needed beryllium
spheres to increase the yield of its fission
bombs; the United States fined the Ger-
man exporter for re-transferring the materi
al, which hat originated in America.

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1980's Uranium is used in the peaceful production
of nuclear energy, but Iran's civilian power program
doesn't require native digging. All of the country's
uranium fuel will come from Russia, leading some
experts to believe that uranium hunts by Iranian en-
gineers (with expertise provided by their Chinese
counterparts) is in the service of bomb making.

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[Insert from the New York Times OP-ED Friday, April 24, 1992A35.]

IRAQ'S BOMB, CHIP BY CHIP

The U.S. Commerce Department licensed the following strategic American exports for Saddam Hussein's atomic weapon programs between 1985 and 1990. Virtually all of the items were shipped to Iraq; all are useful for making atomic bombs or long-range missiles. United Nations inspectors in Iraq are still trying to find most of them. The list is based on Commerce Department export licensing records; the dollar amount of each transaction is as claimed by the exporting company. It was compiled by Gary Milhollin, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin and director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, and Diana Edensword, a research analyst at the project.

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Sales to: Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission, the main atomic research laboratory; Badr and Daura sites, where bomb fuel was made; Al Qaaaa site, where detonators were made.

Canberra Elektronik: computers for measuring gamma rays and fast neutrons$30,000

Cerberus Ltd.: computers-$18,181

Hewlett Packard: computers; electronic testing, calibration and graphics equipment-$25,000

International Computer Systems: computers useful for graphic design of atomic bombs and missiles $1,600,000

Perkin-Elmer: computers and instruments useful for quality control of bomb fuels-$280,000

TI Coating Inc.: equipment for coating metal parts, useful for bomb production$373,708

ATOMIC BOMB AND MISSILE BUILDERS

Sales to: Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization, which ran the atomic bomb, missile and chemical weapon factories; Nassr state enterprise, where equipment for enriching atomic bomb fuel was made; Salah Al Din site, where electronic equipment for missiles and atomic bombs was made; Ministry of Defense, which oversaw missile and atomic bomb development.

Axel Electronics: capacitors $84,000

BDM Corporation: computers; computer-assisted design equipment-$52,000
Canberra Elektronik: computers for computer-assisted design-$21,552

Carl Zeiss: microcomputers for mapping-$104,545

Consarc Corporation: computers to run machine tools capable of manufacturing atomic bomb parts (this sale was stopped by Presidential order in June 1990)$525,550

Data General Corporation: computers for mapping-$324,000

Gerber Systems: computers to run machine tools capable of manufacturing atomic bomb and missile parts $367,428

Hewlett Packard: computers for making molds; frequency synthesizers and other equipment useful for operating secured military communications systems$1,045,500

Honeywell Inc.: computers $353,333

International Computer Systems: computers for manufacturing, tool design and graphics $4,497,700

International Computers Ltd.: computers $687,994

Leybold Vacuum Systems: computer controlled welder used by Iraqis to produce centrifuges for making atomic bomb fuel-$1,400,000

Lummus Crest: Radio spectrum rum analyzers; design computers; computers for factories producing mustard gas ingredients $250,000

Rockwell Collins International: equipment for navigation, directional finding, radar communications or airborne communications-$127,558

Sackman Associates: computers and instruments capable of analyzing metals and powders for atomic bomb and missile manufacture $60,000

Siemens Corporation: computers and instruments capable of analyzing metals and powders for atomic bomb and missile manufacture $78,000

Spectra Physics: lasers; detection and tracking equipment for lasers-$19,000
Unisys Corporation: computers $2,600,000

Wild Magnavox Satellite Survey: computers for processing satellite images that are useful for military mapping and surveillance-$270,000

Zeta Laboratories: quartz crystals for military radar-$1,105,000

MISSILE BUILDERS

Sales to: Saad 16, the main missile research site; State Organization for Technical Industry, the procurement organization for missile sites that bought most Scud missile parts and equipment.

BDM Corporation: computers; superconducting electronics-$29,405

Carl Schenck: computers $10,228

EZ Logic Data: computers-$27,800

Finnigan MAT: computers that U.N. inspectors believe monitored uranium enrichment for atomic bomb fuel-$483,000

Hewlett Packard: electronic testing equipment; computers; frequency synthesizers; radio spectrum analyzers $599,257

257

International Computer Systems: computers $1,375,000

International Imaging Systems: computers for processing satellite data; infrared equipment capable of aerial reconaissance and military surveillance-$688,000

Lummus Crest: computers to aid factory design-$44,320

Perkin-Elmer: computers- $24,560

Scientific Atlanta: equipment for producing radar antennas $820,000

Semetex Corporation: computers $5,155,781

Spectral Data Corporation: satellite data processing equipment-$26,880
Tektronix: high-speed electronics useful in developing atomic bombs and missiles;
radio spectrum analyzers for developing microwave equipment-$102,000
Thermo Jarrell Ash Corporation: computers for testing materials $350,898
Unisys Corporation: computers for production control $7,796
Veeco Instruments Inc.: computers for factory design-$4,640

Wiltron Company: equipment for making radar antennas $49,510

[Insert from the New York Times, The Week in Review, Sunday, July 18, 1993E5.]

IRAQ'S PURCHASES IN THE A-BOMB SUPERMARKET

The Number of Deals

The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control has compiled a list of all the publicly known deals in which Iraq bought technology and equipment for its nuclear and missile programs before the Persian Gulf war in 1991. Some purchases were made from brokers rather than directly from the manufacturer.

A deal can mean construction of an entire factory, or supplying the machine tools or training to operate it. The vast majority of these deals were approved by or made through the governments.

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Breakdown of Iraq's purchases, weighted for importance to its nuclear and missile programs, as estimated by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. One example: although France had only six transactions with the Iraqis, one was to build the Osirak nuclear reactor, which Israel destroyed by bombing in 1981.

Switzerland 8 percent

Italy

5 percent

France 5 percent

Brazil

4 percent

Britain

3.5 percent

United States

3.5 percent

Soviet Union
2 percent

Austria

3 percent

Argentina
2.5 percent

Egypt
2.5 percent

Belgium
2 percent

Japan
1.5 percent

Niger

1.5 percent

Portugal
1.5 percent

Yugoslavia
1.5 percent

Saudi Arabia

1.5 percent

Other
1.5 percent

West Germany
50 percent

[Source on all charts: Gary Milhollin and Diana L. Edensword, Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control.]

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