. September... . 23rd to 30th 1982

grounds for discontinuing the
construction of the reactor. Minister of
External Affairs, Don Jamieson rejected
the plea.)

In 1979, retired Argentine naval
officer and political figure Captain
Francisco,Manrique issued a
communique in London, England which
stated: ‘‘In 1980 our uranium

eprocessing plant will be working,
Which will give us the ability, one
supposes, to build an atomic bomb.”’

 

“Our uranium plant
will give us the ability to

build an atomic bomb”

 

In 1980, Argentina refused to bow to
U.S. pressure to ratify the Tlatelolco
Treaty for the Proscription of Nuclear
Weapons in Latin America even though
that treaty would have allowed
Argentina to conduct so-called
“peaceful nuclear explosions.”’

The United States cut off their supply
of enriched uranium to Argentina in
1981 because of Argentina’s refusal to
sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Later
that year at the World Fair’s
International Energy Symposia in
Knoxville, Tennessee Dr. Miquel
Ussher, assistant to the President of
Argentina admitted that while cheaper

 
   
 
  

Taken from MOTHER JONES

On a number of occaisions since August 1945, the US

The Other Press

alternatives were available, the nuclear
option had been chosen because it gave
Argentina the benefit of developing
nuclear technology for military
purposes.

A briefing document on the
construction of the CANDU reactor in
Argentina was prepared for the federal
cabinet in April and was leaked to the
Ottawa Citizen. It had been prepared as
a result of concerns developing from the
Falklands crisis. The document states:
‘‘The Argentines have proven to be
extremely difficult on non-proliferation
and safeguard matters related to the
Embalse facility.”’

It also notes that: ‘‘ Argentina
continues to show no inclination to
accept Canadian foreign policy
requirements. In fact, the President of
the CNEA (Argentina Atomic Energy
Commission), Rear Admiral Castro
Madero, has in recent statements been
unequivocal in rejecting the
Non-Proliferation Treaty and full scope
safeguards, while reaffiriming his
country’s desire to retain a nuclear
explosives option.”’

Since the military came to power,
academic research in Argentina has
essentially ceased to function at the
country’s universities and technical
institutes. Leading scientific
organizations such as the National
Council for Scientific and Technical
Research have been brought under
control of the military.

At the same time the junta has

 

boosted nuclear research and
eliminated leading atomic physicists
who would be unlikely to accept its
policies. For instance, two leading
atomic physicists, Antonio Misetich and
Frederico Eduardo Alvarez Rojas are
now among the ‘‘disappeared’’ and are
suspected dead.

It became public that Atomic Energy
of Canada Ltd. had obtained the
CANDU sale by paying a $2.5 million
bribe through Italian go-between Jose

 

Other purchasers —
include India,

Pakistan and Tiawan.

 

 

has stood on the brink of nuclear war. This sort of
nuclear bullying generally worked before the Soviets
achieved parity, but threatening first use if nuclear
weapons is now beginning to fail as policy:
@In June 1948, Harry Truman deployed ‘‘atomic
capable’’ b-29s to bases in Britain and Germany at the
outset of the Berlin Blockade. By the end of 1948, the
US had effectively broken the blockade by the Soviets.
*In 1953, Dwight Eishenhower forced a settlement to
the Korean War by threatening China secretly with the
bomb.

e In 1954, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles twice
‘offered French Prime Minister Bidault the use of atomic
weapons in the French-IndoChina conflict.

*In 1961, the Berlin Crisis broke out. The Berlin Wall
was erected, and the US threatened first use of atomic
bombs if the East Germans prevented refugees from
‘crossing to the West.

*In 1962, John Kennedy threatened to invade Cuba and
_ use nucleat weapons if Soviet offensive missiles, moved
. into that country after the Bay of Pigs invasion, were
not removed. é
In 1968, the US considered using nuclear weapons to
save marines surrounded at Khe Sanh, Vietnam.

On November 1, 1969, Richard M. Nixon sent an
- ultimatunr to the North Vietnamese that the US would
use nuclear weapons if they did not settle the war.
In 1980, the Carter administration issued a secret
Pentagon study that concluded, ‘‘To prevail in an
Iranian scenario, we might have to threaten or make
use of tactical nuclear weapons.’’ This Middle East

   
  
   
   
  

doctrine is still US policy, reaffirmed by Reagan in *

1981.

 

 

Ber Belbard to secure the contract.

By 1978 the federal Liberal
government had announced that due to
escalating costs the taxpayers of Canada
would actually lose $130 million on the
CANDU sale to Argentina. That meant
in order to expand the overseas market
for CANDU, Canada sold each of its first
five nuclear reactor exports at a loss. In

~ each case the country was also a buyer

known to be interested in nuclear
weapons production. In addition to
Argentina, the purchasers included
India, Pakistan, South Korea and
Taiwan.

~ Nuclear threat too close

 

 

 

page?

Canada tried to sell Argentina a
second CANDU reactor in 1979 but was
turned down.

The present CANDU reactor has
been under construction for several
years and Canada has over 100 nuclear
scientists and technical personnel
working in Argentina on the project.
The reactor is due to be completed by
April 1983. Canada also undertook to
provide sufficient uranium and fuel
fabrication services for the first five
years of reactor operation.

The major military advantage of the
CANDU reactor is that high quality
weapons grade plutonium can be
produced by accelerating the reactor.
At the same time the CANDU reactor
can be continuously loaded with
uranium fuel bundles instead of having

‘to be shut down for several weeks for

each reloading as other kinds of nuclear
reactors must be. .

Canada was warned by the United
Nations International Atomic Energy
Agency that these characteristics made
the proliferation safeguards on the
CANDU very difficult to implement.

Dr. Gordon Edwards, Chairperson on
the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear
Responsibility, noted that the CANDU
will produce ‘‘a steady stream of spent
fuel from which plutonium can be
extracted’’ and will enable Argentina
“‘to build an arsenal of atomic bombs”’

rather than just one or two.

Canada has been aware of the
potential of a CANDU reactor to be used
for nuclear weapons purposes ever since
India used a CANDU to attain nuclear
weapons capability in 1974:

By the late 1970s, it became clear
that demand for nuclear reactors in
Canada was far lower than the nuclear
industry had been predicting. In the
last two years the Canadian government
has become absolutely desperate to find
overseas buyers for the CANDU in an
attempt to keep the nuclear industry
alive. The subsidies offered at the
expense of the Canadian taxpayer have
been huge.

This year the government of Canada
proposed to loan the government of
Mexico $6 billion at 7.5 per cent interest
over twenty years to purchase four 600
megawatt CANDU reactors. With 1982
interest rates in Canada running at 18
per cent at the time, the value of the
subsidy was in excess of $3.5 billion.
The early months of 1982 also saw Marc
Lalonde in the Middle East peddling
reactor technology in one of the most
unstable parts of the world. Only
months before, Isreal had bombed a
reactor under construction in Iraq on the
grounds that Iraq was planning to enter
the nuclear arms club.

In fierce competition with France,
West Germany and the U.S., who are
also having problems finding reactor
customers, the Canadian government is
also seeking to maintain a reputation of
being a good supplier regardless of
consequences. The April briefing paper

sums up the situation best:‘‘Canada’s
reputation as a reactor supplier might
be irretrievably damaged”’ if the sale to
Argentina is suspended.

The deadly deal has been made. The
world waits in whispered silence while

. dictators make death plans with their

new instruments of war.

s