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Dutch Officials Confirm Urenco Consortium as Source of Illicit Nuclear Equipment
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot and Economic Affairs Minister Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst yesterday publicly confirmed for the first time that uranium enrichment centrifuge technology developed by the British-Dutch-German consortium Urenco may have been transferred to several countries of concern, including Iran, Libya and North Korea, according to the Los Angeles Times (see related GSN story, today). Bot and Brinkhorst made their acknowledgments in written responses to questions posed by a member of parliament, according to the Times. They said it was unknown how the technology was transferred. “There are indications now that, in addition to (Iran and Pakistan), North Korea and Libya also possess this type of technology,” Bot and Brinkhorst said. “The IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and AIVD (Dutch intelligence) are still investigating this,” they added. U.S. officials have suspected that Abdul Qadeer Khan, acknowledged as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, stole the centrifuge designs while working for Urenco in the 1970s, according to the Times. Khan was convicted of the theft, but the verdict was later overturned. A spokesman for Urenco said that the company did not conduct business with Iran, Libya or North Korea and that the technology may have been transferred outside of its control (Douglas Frantz, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 20).
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