Dutch admit to nuke-tech transfer

Two government ministers in the Netherlands acknowledged on Monday that sensitive nuclear technology developed by a Dutch company may have b...

Two government ministers in the Netherlands acknowledged on Monday that sensitive nuclear technology developed by a Dutch company may have been transferred to Libya and N Korea along with Iran and Pakistan. The disclosure in Amsterdam marked the first public confirmation of assertions that centrifuge technology for enriching uranium apparently found its way to Libya and N Korea. It was already known that Pakistan and Iran had the technology.

The Dutch officials, Foreign Minister Bernard Bot and Economic Affairs Minister Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, said it was not clear how the potentially arms-related technology was transferred. But diplomats said the comments were likely to raise pressure on Pakistan, which has already been linked to Iran8217;s capability and is suspected of providing the technology to North Korea and Libya.

The ministers added: 8216;8216;There are indications now that, in addition to Iran and Pakistan, North Korea and Libya also possess this type of technology,8217;8217; they wrote. Urenco said it was aware of reports of its technology having been passed to these countries, but added, 8216;8216;We don8217;t do business with countries such as Iran, Libya and North Korea.8217;8217;

US officials have long suspected that Abdul Qadeer Khan, who led the development of Pakistan8217;s atomic bomb, stole the centrifuge secrets in the 19708217;s while working for the Dutch company Urenco. He was convicted of the theft, but the verdict was overturned.

Evidence of Pakistan8217;s possible role in transferring centrifuge technology emerged last summer when IAEA inspectors uncovered an enrichment programme in Iran based on Urenco8217;s designs. After several inspections and negotiations with the agency, Iran conceded that it had received centrifuge drawings and components from several middlemen, including Pakistanis.

Pakistan drew suspicion again last month after Libya announced that it was abandoning its development of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and opened its doors to inspectors from the US, Britain and the IAEA. Diplomats said IAEA inspectors were shown two types of centrifuge equipment in Libya. They said the equipment was based on Urenco8217;s designs. The designs appeared to have come from Pakistan, although other sources may have helped. 8212;LAT-WP