Libya Surrenders Nuclear Weapon Designs to IAEA

Libya has provided U.N. inspectors with drawings of a nuclear weapon, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday (see GSN, Jan. 22).

“We have put those drawings under our seal, and they are secure,” IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.

A diplomat said the drawings were of a device similar to a nuclear warhead, describing it as “a device that goes boom, which can be put on a missile or can be put into a bomb form.” The diplomat also said that the significance of the drawings is that “it’s the first time anyone has acknowledged” Libya’s intention to develop nuclear weapons (George Jahn, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Jan. 23).

Senior U.S. officials have said that the United States may take possession of uranium enrichment centrifuges and other materials from Libya’s nuclear weapons program as soon as next week, Reuters reported Saturday.

Libyan nuclear weapons-related documents were sent back to the United States Friday, according to Reuters. Libyan centrifuges, uranium hexafluoride and other related equipment “are in the next round, probably next week,” a U.S. official said. “We’re trying to get the most proliferation-sensitive stuff out early,” the official said.

“We’re going to take the stuff out (of Libya). We’re going to have it in the United States. We’re going to own it, the nuclear stuff,” a second U.S. official said (Carol Giacomo, Reuters, Jan. 24).

According to diplomats and experts, the current investigation into Libya’s nuclear weapons efforts has revealed that Tripoli was aided by a nuclear “international supermarket” that provided weapons designs, technical advice and necessary materials and components, according to the Washington Post.

The network, which is also believed to have been used by Iran for its nuclear program, is far larger than anything previously seen and has gone undetected by Western intelligence agencies, officials said.

Some investigators believe that components for Libyan centrifuges were produced in factories established solely to build illicit nuclear components, according to the Post. U.S. and IAEA officials are investigating one such site in Malaysia, with that government’s cooperation, officials said. They also said that the Malaysian site has been visited by U.S. officials in the past two weeks.

“A moral barrier has been breached,” said a Europe-based diplomat familiar with the Libya investigation. “Always, in the past, what we saw were single states, acting in their interests, looking to make nuclear weapons. Now we have atomic bomb factories,” the diplomat said.

A U.S. official said Libya is prepared to increase its cooperation by providing its suppliers and delivery routes. “They seem to have no issues or problems with this. They’ve seen the light.  Having said that, it’s ‘trust but verify,’” the official said (Warrick/Slevin, Washington Post, Jan. 24).

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel published today, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that Libya’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons showed that “it’s obvious that the international export controls have completely failed in recent years” (Ian Traynor, London Guardian, Jan. 26).

“All of what we saw [in Libya] was a result of the Wal-Mart of private sector proliferation,” he said (Landler/Sanger, New York Times, Jan. 24).

“A nuclear black market has emerged, driven by fantastic cleverness. Designs are drawn in one country, centrifuges are produced in another, they are then shipped via a third country and there is no clarity about the end user,” ElBaradei said.

“Expert nuclear businessmen, unscrupulous firms, and perhaps also state bodies are involved. Libya and Iran made extensive use of this network,” he said (Traynor, London Guardian).

Meanwhile, two delegations of U.S. lawmakers arrived in Libya over the weekend, according to Reuters.

Yesterday, a seven-member delegation headed by Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) arrived in Tripoli. Weldon told the Libyan officials that met his delegation that “we want to be friends,” Reuters reported.

“We are here to take a message back to the American people that our visit has been very positive,” Weldon said in an interview.

In addition, a separate delegation headed by Representative Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) arrived in Libya Saturday (Jonathan Wright, Reuters/Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 26).

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