A secret dispatch from US Army intelligence indicates that the People鈥檚
Republic of China negotiated the sale of a nuclear power plant to Iraq in
1984. The document was obtained by the Nuclear Control Institute, a research
group in Washington DC.
NCI asked the Army for records on China鈥檚 nuclear exports to Iraq since
1985. They received a censored document with some details, such as the names
of the countries, deleted. 鈥業t鈥檚 safe to infer the countries are China and
Iraq since that鈥檚 what we asked for,鈥� says Paul Leventhal, director of the
NCI.
The dispatch says China completed a feasibility study for construction
of the plant in 1986. A site would be picked by 1987 and construction completed
by 1990. As part of the package Iraq would receive 鈥榯he complete technology鈥�
so that Chinese technicians would not be needed, as well as a 鈥榗omplete
infrastructure for the indigenous manufacture of components鈥�. It concludes
that the exporting country balked at transferring technology but says talks
were continuing.
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A nuclear power reactor can produce plutonium for bombs, although there
is no sign that the reactor was built in Iraq, says Leventhal.
