Libya Nuclear Components Said Headed for U.S.
By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Acting swiftly to ensure Libya's pledge to give up nuclear weapons is implemented, the Bush administration may bring to the United States as early as next week centrifuges and nuclear material at the heart of Tripoli's program, senior U.S. officials say.
Documents and drawings from the Libyan program arrived in Washington on Friday. Centrifuges, uranium hexafluoride and other nuclear-related equipment "are in the next round, probably next week," one official told Reuters.
Most, if not all, of the nuclear components will go to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the U.S. Department of Energy (news - web sites)'s largest science and energy laboratory.
"We're trying to get the most proliferation-sensitive stuff out early," the U.S. official said.
Another U.S. official added: "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."
At least for now, there is no plan to take any of Libya's weapons-related material to Britain, officials said.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (news - web sites) pledged on Dec. 19 to abandon efforts to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in a surprise deal with old adversaries Washington and London.
But a dispute erupted between the Americans and the International Atomic Energy Agency -- the U.N. watchdog that usually has the job of overseeing dismantling of weapons of mass destruction programs -- over the IAEA role in Libya.
Last Monday, IAEA chief Mohamed Elbaradei said he had agreed with U.S. and British officials that his agency would verify Libya's dismantling by U.S. and British experts.
COMPETING ROLES
But U.S. officials insisted the IAEA role will be secondary. "The IAEA can come and watch while we're doing it and say, 'yes indeed (the weapons-related items) were moved from Tripoli to the United States,"' one U.S. official said.
"But this is our agreement with the Libyans -- and we're going to implement it," he said.
U.S., British and IAEA inspectors were in Libya this week beginning the process of removing the weapons.
Some of Tripoli's chemical arms may be brought to the United States for analysis. However, for safety reasons, most of the material will be destroyed on site in Libya, officials said.
Libya denies it has a biological weapons program but U.S. officials want to verify the claim with scientists.
If biological capability is discovered, that too would probably be destroyed on site in Libya, officials said.
The Washington Post reported in Saturday's editions that Libya's quest for atomic weapons was aided by a sophisticated nuclear black market that offered weapons designs, real-time technical advice and thousands of sensitive parts -- some apparently manufactured in secret factories.
Quoting diplomats and experts, the newspaper said the scale of the black-market operation exceeds anything seen before and it was undetected by western intelligence until recent months.
On Friday, the IAEA said nuclear arms designs were found in Libya and put under U.N. seal before transport to Washington.
The IAEA has said a Libyan bomb was years away, while U.S. and British officials said it was more imminent.
U.S., British and IAEA experts agreed, however, that Libya launched a serious and aggressive campaign to acquire the capability and know-how to enrich uranium for use in weapons.
"They've got a lot of stuff," one U.S. official said. He added that the next transfer from Libya to the United States will include "centrifuges, uranium hexafluoride, various machines and associated (nuclear program) equipment."
A centrifuge is a rapidly rotating cylinder that can be used to enrich uranium for use as nuclear bomb fuel. Uranium hexafluoride is a gas used in that process.
Libya's August 2003 admission of responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing (news - web sites) and its December vow to abandon WMD have set the stage for a possible end to U.S. economic sanctions.
Lifting sanctions would let U.S. oil companies resume work in Libya abandoned when sanctions forced them out in 1986.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=4&u=/nm/20040124/ts_nm/nuclear_libya_usa_dcI wonder what Libian nuclear staff is also coming with the goods to the US...