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U.K. officials cleared nuclear cargo to Iran

Antony Barnett

London: British officials have allowed the export to Iran of a cargo of radioactive material that experts believe could be used in a nuclear weapons programme.

The disclosure has prompted calls for an inquiry into how the international trade in such compounds is controlled.

On August 31, a truck carrying 1,000 kg of zirconium silicate supplied by a British firm was stopped by Bulgarian customs at the Turkish border on its way to Teheran, after travelling 2,400 km from Britain, through Germany and Romania, without being stopped.

Zirconium can be used as a component of a nuclear programme. According to one expert, it is used in nuclear reactors to stop fuel rods corroding and can also be used as part of a nuclear warhead. The metal can be extracted from zirconium silicate.

It is because the compound can be used for military purposes that its trade is usually tightly controlled.

Control on materials

The fact that a British firm was allowed to sell the compound without scrutiny will raise questions for the British Government over its controls on sensitive materials. Intelligence documents disclosed last week in the London-based Guardian newspaper detailed how Iran is creating agencies and middlemen to procure equipment and know-how in Europe in a covert attempt to build nuclear weapons. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected this week to order the resumption of tests on machinery that can be used to make weapons-grade uranium.

The official who stopped the truck was alerted after its cargo emitted unusual radioactivity levels. Bulgarian officials said that the Turkish driver was arrested on August 31.

He was investigated "for violating international treaties... by transferring across the border dangerous wastes, toxic chemical substances, biological agents, toxics and radioactive materials".

The Bulgarians discovered the exporter was a British firm and alerted the U.K. embassy in Sofia, which informed London. Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay has asked a number of parliamentary questions on the export of zirconium silicate from the U.K., and wants the Government to review its rules governing the export of the material.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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