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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, APRIL 30, 1982
PAGE 8
start produ q ing enough plutonium in 1983 to make 10 bombs� year.
It also discloses the help they have had officially and
unofficially from West Germany and traces the involvement of
former Nazi sympathizers. The NEWSNIGHT SPECIAL investigation
suggests that some German scientists might have been trying to
give themselves the option of a "backdoor bomb" through
Argentina•..•
At the centre of the controversy is a nuclear reprocessing plant
being built at Ezeiza, next to the Buenos Aires International
Airport and which should be completed next year.
The technology which has enabled the Argentines to construct the
plant is said to have been provided by West German scientists
under a deal concluded without reference to West Germany's allies
or to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
A reactor is also being built at Atucha, north of Buenos Aires,
by the West Germans, who won the contract against Canadian com
petition because they did not insist on the full range of safe
gua£ds necessary to ensure that a country is producing nuclear
energy for only peaceful purposes.
Officially, the Argentines say they want to produce plutonium for
use in fast breeder reactors in their country and elsewhere.
Argentina has no fast breeder reactor programme and there are
fears that Third World customers might include regimes like that
of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.
Argentina has .§2 far refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Prolifera
tion Treaty.
Another source claims that Argentina could have the bomb by the end of this
year.
Here is what the March, 1982 issue of THE LATIN AMERICAN TIMES
reports:
Latin America's ability to produce nuclear energy will be greatly
enhanced as a result of Mexico's recent decision to build nuclear
plants capable of generating 2 million kilowatts of power. The
plan is the first phase of a 20 million-kilowatt program to be
implemented over the next twenty years at a cost (in current
terms) of more than $30 billion.
Mexico's announcement coincided with recent reports, made by U.S.
intelligence sources, of Argentina's plan to produce Latin
America's first atomic bomb QY the end of 1982. Argentine offi
cials have not decisively confirmed the news. Admiral Carlos
Castro Madero, the head of Argentina's National Atomic Energy
Commission (CNEA), has conceded that his nation "has the know-how
to build a bomb" but has denied it is actually going to do so.
Whether or not th� intelligence reports are accurate, Argentina
remains Latin America's leading nuclear power.
The reports concerning Argentina disturbed Washington officials
intent on discouraging the military use of internationally-traded