Gaddafi Was Close To Having Bomb, UN Discloses

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 2-21-2004 | Anton La Guardia

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Gaddafi was close to having bomb, UN discloses

By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor
(Filed: 21/02/2004)

Libya succeeded in making weapons-grade plutonium before announcing it would abandon its efforts to build a nuclear bomb, United Nations inspectors said yesterday.

Col Muammar Gaddafi

A report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency discloses the full scale of Tripoli's ambitions to build a bomb before Col Gaddafi's change of heart.

Libya's nuclear experiments included the separation of plutonium, albeit "in very small quantities", it said.

As part of a deal in December to end its international isolation, Col Gaddafi has allowed American and British experts, backed by international inspectors, to begin dismantling its secret facilities to build weapons of mass destruction.

Libya had been able to buy many of the components needed to build a centrifuge to enrich uranium from the nuclear "supermarket" operated by the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

The IAEA report confirmed that Libya had also bought enriched uranium. This was flown to Libya from Pakistan, said a police report citing the alleged chief financier of the nuclear black market, Buhary Syed Abu Tahir.

According to Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, between the early 1980s until the end of last year, "Libya imported nuclear material and conducted a wide variety of [clandestine] nuclear activities."

The report will be discussed next month by the agency's board of governors.

Countries seeking a covert nuclear programme usually take the route of uranium enrichment because the hundreds of components needed for centrifuges are mostly "dual use" and can be bought from international suppliers.

In contrast, the plutonium route requires a large reactor.

Nevertheless, Libyan scientists clearly wanted to keep their options open and learned the chemistry required to separate plutonium from uranium that has been irradiated.