Libya produces plutonium, not enough to make bomb: IAEA

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, February 21, 2004

Libya produces plutonium, not enough to make bomb: IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claimed in a report Friday that Libya refined certain grams of plutonium in its secret weapons program that lasted for 20 years.

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claimed in a report Friday that Libya refined certain grams of plutonium in its secret weapons program that lasted for 20 years.

The IAEA report disclosed that Libya's nuclear program was more advanced than generally believed. However, the country has not produced enough substances, three kilograms, to build a bomb.

The report also revealed that Libya had designs for nuclear weapons.

Libya admitted in the report that it received documents for "nuclear weapons design and fabrication from a foreign source."

Among the numerous breaches of Libya's obligations to report its nuclear activities to the IAEA, the agency listed "failure to declare the import of UF6 (slightly enriched uranium) in 1985, 2000 and 2001 and its subsequent storage...and the import of uranium compounds in 1985 and 2002."

On March 8, the UN nuclear watchdog's 35-nation board of governors will meet at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, to review the report.

Plutonium, as well as enriched uranium, is a key ingredient formaking an atomic bomb.

Last April, Libya agreed to pay 2.7 billion US dollars in compensation to the families of the Lockerbie bombing victims and accept the responsibility for the bombing.

Last December, after nearly a year of secret talks with the United States and Britain, Libya announced its decision to scrap programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.

In January, Libya agreed to pay 170 million dollars in compensation to the families of 170 people killed in the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner.

Libya's moves to improve relations with Western countries were warmly welcomed by the United States, Britain and other countries.

Source:Xinhua

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