Iraq’s Secret Nuclear Weapons Program
DOI: 10.1063/1.881312
The inspections of Iraq mandated by the United Nations as a cease‐fire condition at the end of the Gulf War in February 1991 have revealed a clandestine nuclear materials production and weapons design program of unexpected size and sophistication. The total value of that program, in terms of equipment and personnel deployed between 1981 and 1991, may be on the order of $5‐10 billion. The program employed an estimated 7000 scientists and 20 000 workers.
References
1. D. A. Kay, testimony to US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 16 October 1991.
2. R. Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Simon & Schuster, New York (1988).
3. UN Security Council, “Report, on the Eighth IAEA On‐Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991),” S/23283, 12 December 1991.
4. UN Security Council, “Report on the Ninth IAEA On‐Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991),” S/23505, 11‐14 January 1992.
5. UN Security Council, “Report on the Seventh IAEA On‐Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991),” S/23215, 14 November 1991.
6. UN Security Council, “Report on the Eleventh IAEA On‐Site Inspection in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 687 (1991),” S/23947, 22 May 1991.
More about the Authors
Jay C. Davis. Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
David A. Kay. Uranium Institute, London.
