nuclear, biological, chemical, nbc, weapons of mass destruction, wmd, shelter, bomb shelter, underground shelter

Radius

Who Needs a Shelter Anyway?

By
Walton McCarthy

Dismantled nuclear weapons in combination with displaced nuclear weapons experts from the former Soviet Union have formed a combination making nuclear weapons available to terrorists who are able to pay. The reduction of the nuclear arsenal of the U.S. and Russia and the threat of a massive nuclear confrontation is creating even stronger more dispersed enemies, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Algeria or North Korea. The CIA estimates that over 20 countries will have long-range ballistic missile capability by the year 2000.

Walton McCarthy

The fact is that neither S.T.A.R.T. (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) nor the Washington agreements requires the United States or Russia to destroy their nuclear warheads, just disassemble the warhead whole or store the various parts in a warehouse. When nuclear warheads are dismantled, tons of plutonium and high-enriched uranium (HEU) are placed into circulation; thus the emergence of the "Nuclear Black Market".

How much HEU and plutonium would be required to make a small atomic bomb? It takes only 15 kg (33 lbs) of HEU and 6 kg (13 lbs) of plutonium to make a small atomic bomb. In terms of volume, 15 kg is a little larger than a softball of HEU, and 6 kg (13 lbs) is approximately the size of a softball. The estimated material in the Russian arsenal which is estimated to be released in just the next few years is 300,000 to 500,000 kg of HEU and 60,000 kg of plutonium. This is enough to make 10,000+ atomic weapons.

A ballistic missile

There are numerous problems in storing weapon components. The first is that it takes a very special storage facility to warehouse nuclear warheads and/or nuclear components. In June of 1991 Boris Yeltsin asked the U.S. for $300,000,000 to build a nuclear warehouse near Tomsk in Siberia to store more than 100,000 nuclear weapon components. The U.S. approved $15,000,000 to research such a project. Even if the U.S. were to grant such an expenditure, it will take years of study, years of engineering and when all this is finished, it would take at least five years to build. Until adequate funding is provided, much of the nuclear fuel will have to remain intact in the warheads. Secondly, it takes extremely sophisticated security measures to guard the weapon components which requires large and continuous financial burdens. The third problem is that no inventory of Russian warheads has yet been drawn up and some may be missing already. The fourth problem is that the supply of HEU, which can be turned into fissionable material for nuclear reactors is greater than the demand so warehousing must still be employed. An even greater problem is finding other uses for plutonium which few nuclear reactors can use and reprocessing it is not economical. The fifth problem is that there is not enough storage space or funding to dismantle the nuclear weapons in the ground today.

In theory 6,000 warheads are to be removed under the 1991 S.T.A.R.T. An additional 8,200 U.S. and Russian are due to be removed by 2003 based on the June Washington agreement by George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Russia could possibly dismantle up to 2500 warheads per year if they had the funding. Even at this pace it would take 10 - 20 years to dismantle or properly dispose of all the strategic and tactical nuclear weapons that Russia spent decades building. There are numerous disputes on the Russian side with the Washington agreements and the Russians are not able to shoulder any of the financial burden for destroying missile silos. Two former Soviet Republics Russia and Ukraine are in dispute over who owns the 300 ship Black Sea Navel Fleet.

Dismantled Russian bombers

U.S. intelligence analysts reported that guards at a Russian missile base abandoned their posts to try and get food. In another situation, guards left their post to go fishing because they were out of food. Col. Gen. Mikhail Kolesnikov, Chief of Staff of Russian Ground Forces, warned that disintegration of the armed forces could lead to "catastrophic consequences....not unlinked to the possibility of losing control of nuclear weaponry. In times when food and money are so scarce, people are forced to do things that they may not ordinarily do. What would you do if you and your family were literally starving and someone offered you and each person in the community all the food they could eat and $10,000 each if community members simply turned their heads while a warhead is removed and transported away? During the failed August coup, control of the launch codes for strategic nuclear weapons were in the hands of the plotter for 78 hours. Although the Russians have gone to great pains to reassure the East that nuclear command and control systems remain stable and safe, the main concern is control over its tactical nuclear weapons.

In the midst of "confused current circumstances when Russian ground forces pull back or redeploy from republics, tactical warheads could fall into the wrong hands", said retired Lt. Gen. William Odon, former head of the National Security Agency. Some 3,000 tactical nuclear weapons are stationed in republics other than Russia.

Colin Powell

In early 1991, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell stressed to Congress that civil war in Russia represents a major threat to the United States. Gen. Powell stated "Whatever the future state may look like, the land of the Czars and Commissars, after all is said and done, will still possess by far the strongest military force on the Eurasian land mass. The Soviet Union, now and in the future will remain the one country capable of destroying the United States in less than 30 minutes."

In 1992 Soviet Foreign Minister Edward Shevardnadze stated "civil war could ignite giant stockpiles of nuclear and chemical weapons. By intent or mistake buttons can be pushed." With the downfall of the Soviet Union, many small countries are now becoming major nuclear superpowers. China, Africa, North Korea, South America, and the Middle East are all developing long range missiles. Keep in mind that it does not require long-range missiles to attack an enemy with a nuclear weapon. In fact, it doesn't require a missile at all. A small nuclear weapon can be carried and delivered in a child's day pack and left to be remotely detonated.

THE NUCLEAR BLACK MARKET

Uranium pellets

In June 1991, detectives in Budapest picked up a satchel filled with metal pellets they had found hidden in the pendulums of some small grandfather clocks in a Hungarian village near the Rumanian border. The Hungarian detectives breaking up what they thought was a routine smuggling ring had discovered enriched uranium pellets stolen from a Rumanian nuclear reactor.

Uranium pellets from the same reactor were found in Italy a few months after the Hungarian incident. This time the pellets were sold by another group of Hungarians. In March of 1992, two Russians were arrested in Munich for trying to sell $1.1 million of enriched uranium. The enriched uranium was shielded in lead casing in the trunk of their Mercedes. In April 1992, a shipment of hafnium was seized by Hungarian customs officials who halted a small truck from Russia. Hafnium is a material used in the nuclear industry to absorb nuclear radiation. The amount of hafnium seized was enough to supply a nuclear industry or a nuclear weapons program for several years.

In June 1992, Vienna police arrested four Hungarians, three Czechoslovakians and an Austrian as they were about to sell three pounds of weapons grade plutonium to an Austrian middleman. The next day, a smuggling ring of people employed in the nuclear industry was smashed by Rumanian police.

JOB CAREERS FOR UNEMPLOYED WEAPONS SCIENTISTS

Captured Iraqi scientist Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash

Western specialists believe that 20 to 30 percent of the former Soviet Union nuclear weapon scientists are accepting positions in nuclear weapon production facilities. "Over the next decade or two we almost inevitably expect some of them to disappear to undesired locations." said Harold Muller, a German nonproliferation specialist and director of studies at the Peace Research Institute in Frankfurt.

The agency designed to be the nuclear policeman, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, is virtually helpless. It has no international authority or budget to enforce anything. "The IAEA has proved itself a worthless organization", said Kenneth Timmerman, a Middle East arms specialist who is completing a study of nuclear proliferation. "They proved that in Iraq. They are proving it again in their inspections of Iran. They are a toothless watchdog."

More than 60 scientists and engineers with nuclear weapon experience and expertise in the former Soviet Union have vanished into the third world. India, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, and Brazil have made job offers to unemployed nuclear and chemical weapon experts at salaries from $36,000 to $75,000/yr plus free housing and servants. It is doubtful that they have been hired to work on refrigerators.

U.S. intelligence has said that it is no longer inconceivable that a Russian general, with access to battlefield nuclear weapons, could requisition a transport and fly a few such

A Radius Engineering shelter delivery

weapons to Libya where he would presumably collect several million dollars before flying to Brazil to a comfortable retirement. The U.S. Department Of Defense is taking the situation very seriously since it is soliciting 1300 defense grants for nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons research.

NUCLEAR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

A travel agent, Ernest Schliemann from the western German city of Bielefeld, received an offer from a Russian who wanted to set up a trading company selling foodstuffs. Schliemann asked the Russian to FAX over a list. Although Schliemann had only a layperson's knowledge of the nuclear weapons industry, heavy water, strontium, and enriched weapons grade plutonium did catch his attention on the FAX list of items for sale. This type of offer to Schliemann represents the front edge of what many say is the greatest danger to the entire world.

For more information about the Radius Engineering Nuclear, Biological and Chemical terrorism-protection underground shelter systems please contact Walton McCarthy here

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