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Jan 15 1986 [M, N] In an address to the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union, Premier Gorbachev announces a plan for total nuclear disarmament of the
superpowers by the year 2000. This plan is contingent upon the U.S.
abandonment of it
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
Jan 28 1986 [C] The United States and the Soviet Union hold the first
round of intensified
bilateral discussions on a
chemical weapons ban.
Jan 28 1986 [N] North Korea issues a Soviet-supported proposal for
establishing a
nuclear-weapon-free zone on the Korean Peninsula.
Feb 13-17 1986 [C, O] The largest scale use of chemical weapons during
the Iran-Iraq War (1981-1988) by Iraq against Iran occurs on the Fao Peninsula. The United Nations later investigates Iraqi use of mustard gas, sarin, and tabun.
Feb 1986 [M, N] The United States proposes a limit of 140
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) launchers in Europe and concurrent
proportionate reductions in Asia.
Feb 1986 [N] Abdul Qadir Khan, head of Pakistan's nuclear program,
reportedly visits the Iranian nuclear reactor project at Bushehr. Pakistan
and Iran also reportedly sign a secret nuclear cooperation agreement later in
the year.
March 4 1986 [N] At the
INF negotiations, the United States proposes "a comprehensive verification
regime that includes the use of
national technical means (NTM) of
verification and cooperative measures between the two governments, such as
on-site inspection and data exchanges.
March 14 1986 [N] President Reagan announces a new, specific proposal
for on-site monitoring of nuclear tests to strengthen the verification
provisions of the
Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT) and
Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty (PNET). The proposal involves a new
hydro-dynamic yield measurements method, known as CORRTEX, which Soviet
scientists are invited to inspect at the U.S. nuclear test site where they will
monitor a nuclear weapons test.
March 1986 [C, O] United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez
de Cuellar issues a statement formally accusing Iraq of using chemical weapons
against Iran.
April 15 1986 [M] In retaliation for the U.S. bombing raids on Tripoli
and Benghazi earlier in the month, Libya fires two
Scud-B ballistic missiles at a U.S. Coast Guard outpost on the Italian
island of Lampedusa. The missiles fall harmlessly into the sea.
April 25 1986 [N] An accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power
plant in Ukraine, USSR results in a fire, explosion, and release of radiation
that kills 31 people. Radioactive fallout from the accident is detected
throughout Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
April 29 1986 [N] Four days after the accident, the Soviet Union
formally discloses that an accident has occurred at Chernobyl.
May 14 1986 [N] Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev extends the
Soviet nuclear testing moratorium through August 6, 1986. It is later
extended until the end of the year.
May 18 1986 [N] Two Greenpeace members illegally board a British ship
carrying spent nuclear fuel in an attempt to highlight the vulnerability of
current methods of disposing of nuclear material.
May 27 1986 [M, N] President Reagan announces that the United States will no
longer observe the
SALT II treaty limits on long-range bombers. As the treaty has not
been
ratified by the U.S. Senate, Reagan's decision to no longer abide by
it is tantamount to a U.S. withdrawal. The USSR denounces the U.S. action,
but announces that it will continue to abide by SALT II limits "for the time
being."
May 1986 [C] The United States announces it will begin producing new
binary chemical weapons beginning December 1, 1987.
June 23 1986 [N] North Korea, a
non-nuclear weapon state party to the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), reiterates it will refrain from
testing, producing, or stockpiling nuclear weapons. Despite this
announcement and its NPT commitment, during 1986 it begins construction of a
50WM(e) nuclear reactor and radiochemistry laboratory at Yongbyon, and a
200MW(e) nuclear reactor in Taechon, which are later found to be contributing to
North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Operations at these facilities are
suspended under the 1994
Agreed Framework. Also later in the year, the "uranium enrichment
facility" in Pyongsan, North Hwanghae Province becomes operational.
June 1986 [N] New Zealand becomes the first country to ban all
nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered vessels from its ports.
July 1986 [C, O] An analysis of old aerial photographs leads the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to submit a report to the U.S. Army
stating its concern about the possibility of a
chemical weapons burial site at an American University site in Spring
Valley, near Washington, .D.C. The U.S. Army shelves the report, ruling that
the evidence was not sufficient to warrant further action.
August 1986 [N] Two people are killed and two are seriously injured in
an accident at South Africa's top secret Pelindaba nuclear research facility
near Pretoria. It is reported that the incident does not involve
radiation.
Sept 15 1986 [N] Pakistan and China sign an agreement on the peaceful
use of nuclear energy. This agreement includes the design, construction,
and operation of nuclear power reactors. The agreement provides that all
equipment supplied by China is subject to
IAEA
safeguards. It does not, however, require Pakistan to place any of its
nuclear installations under safeguards. Neither China nor Pakistan are parties
to the
NPT at this time.
Sept 30 1986 [B] The Second Review Conference of the
Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) concludes in Geneva. The
Final Declaration of the conference contains four
confidence building measures (CBMs): (1) the declaration of all high-security
containment facilities; (2) the declaration of unusual outbreaks of disease; (3)
the encouragement of the publication of research results; (4) the encouragement
of international scientific contacts.
Sept 1986 [N] The Iraqi Auqba bin Nafi General Establishment (ABN)
contracts the Yugoslavian state company Federal Directorate of Supply and
Procurement (FDSP) to build the Tarmiya electromagnetic isotope separation (EMIS)
facility, which, if completed, could have produced 15 kg of
highly enriched uranium (HEU) annually. The effort is designated
"Project 946." The contract is valued at over $100 million. Project 946 is
conducted from September 1986 through September 1990, when it is abruptly ended
after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, which led to the imposition of a UN embargo on Iraq and the
subsequent Persian Gulf War. Nonetheless, by that time, construction of
almost all of the Tarmiya buildings and many EMIS units is completed.
Sept 1986 [N] Pakistan conducts "cold tests" (instrumental detonations
of simulated nuclear bombs) of a nuclear implosion device at Changai. U.S.
intelligence agencies report that Pakistan has the capability to produce
HEU and to assemble nuclear weapons. Although the United States seeks
to discourage Pakistan from pursuing its nuclear program, the United States
restrains its pressure on Pakistan because of the need for continued Pakistani
cooperation in the campaign to force Soviet forces to leave Afghanistan.
Oct 5 1986 [N] The London Sunday Times publishes a story based
on information provided by Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician at the
Dimona nuclear facility in Israel. Vanunu provides photographs and a
detailed
description of the Dimona facility and claims that Israel already possesses
100-200 nuclear weapons. As Israel has never formally acknowledged its
nuclear weapons program, the information provided by Vanunu is a significant
revelation. A week before the story is published, Vanunu is abducted in
Rome by Israeli intelligence agents and brought to Israel for trial, where he is
later convicted of treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Oct 6 1986 [N] A Soviet Yankee-class nuclear submarine catches fire and
sinks in the North Atlantic, 400 miles east of Bermuda. Four crew members
are killed in the accident.
Oct 11-12 1986 [N, M] At a summit meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, U.S.
President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev discuss
limiting U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals to 1,600 strategic nuclear delivery
vehicles and 6,000 warheads for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs),
submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and air-launched cruise missiles
(ALCMs). The meeting fails to produce a concrete agreement as the Soviets demand
that the United States first cancel plans for the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), which the United States refuses to do.
Dec 1986 [N] North Korea installs the experimental 5 MW nuclear reactor
at Yongbyon. Steam is detected venting from the reactor in February of the
following year, and intelligence suggests that it is fully operational by
October 1987. The reactor is capable of producing enough plutonium for one
nuclear weapon annually. Except for a seven-day period in 1989, the
facility operates continuously until 1994, when operations are suspended under
the
Agreed Framework.
Dec 11 1986 [N] The
Treaty of Rarotonga (the South Pacific Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty)
enters into force.
Dec 15 1986 [N] The Soviet Union signs the Protocols to the Treaty of
Rarotonga.
Dec 29 1986 [N] North Korea establishes the Ministry of Atomic Energy
Industry.
Mid-1980s [N] ARMSCOR, the Armaments Corporation of South Africa,
begins construction of the major weapons-related facility, Advena Central
Laboratories. The laboratories facility is intended to expand nuclear-delivery options to ballistic missiles.
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