WikiLeaks cables suggest Burma is building secret nuclear sites

Source: The Guardian

Witnesses in Burma claim to have seen evidence of secret nuclear and missile sites being built in remote jungle, according to secret US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, heightening concerns that the military regime is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

A Burmese officer quoted in a cable from the US embassy in Burma said he had witnessed North Korean technicians helping to construct an underground facility in foothills more than 300 miles (480km) north-west of Rangoon.

"The North Koreans, aided by Burmese workers, are constructing a concrete-reinforced underground facility that is '500ft from the top of the cave to the top of the hill above'," according to the cable. The man is quoted as saying the North Koreans were "blowing concrete" into the excavation.

An expatriate businessman told the embassy in Rangoon he had seen a large barge carrying reinforced steel bar of a diameter that suggested a project larger than a factory. Other informants included dockworkers, who reported suspicious cargo.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/09/wikileaks-cables-burma-nuclear-weapons

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Embedded links to the cables at the Guardian's full article.

But the nonproliferation treaty was "flawed".

In 1999, the Republicans would not even allow testimony on the issue and it was defeated by three votes -- the first major international treaty in 79 years was rejected.

Saying he was giving them first dibs to buy it before he tried to sell it to other countries?
Cable says they hid the info from the Burmese gov so they wouldn't go after the site that the guy said he got it from.




http://213.251.145.96/cable/2008/09/08RANGOON749.html


Per Ref A, Post is alerting the Department and Washington agencies that on XXXXXXXXXXXX after USDAO Rangoon received guidance from DIA, a Burmese civilian met with members of USDAO Rangoon and offered to sell Uranium-238. The individual had initially contacted the USDAO eight days prior with the offer. The individual provided a small bottle half-filled with metallic powder and a photocopied certificate of testing from a Chinese university dated 1992 as verification of the radioactive nature of the powder. During XXXXXXXXXXXX interview, the individual claimed to be able to provide up to 2000 kg of uranium-bearing rock from a location in Kayah State XXXXXXXXXXXX , and further stated if the U.S. was not interested in purchasing the uranium, he and his associates would try to sell it to other countries, beginning with Thailand. See Ref B for further information.
¶2. (S//REL TO USA, ACGU) Details of the incident follow, keyed to questions in Ref A:
A) (S//REL to USA, ACGU) Current location of the material: Sample bottle is in transit via classified Diplomatic Pouch to Aberdeen Proving Grounds via DIA.

B) (S//REL to USA, ACGU) Transportation status of material: sample bottle in transit through diplomatic courier service. The sample was wrapped in several layers and placed inside multiple containers, including glass, lead, and wooden boxes/crates. Following instructions from DIA headquarters, USDAO has sent the package via Diplomatic Pouch to Aberdeen Proving Grounds, through DIA, 3100 Clarendon, Arlington, VA. The box is marked “Secret.” Dimensions are 16 X 16 X 8 inches. Embassy Rangoon assesses that the host nation is currently unaware of USDAO receipt and shipment of the material. However, the possibility cannot be dismissed that rather than a sale for profit, the seller is attempting to assist in executing a government entrapment scheme.
C) (S//REL to USA, ACGU) As noted, Post assesses that the Burmese government is currently unaware of USDAO receipt and shipment of the sample. Burmese authorities would likely seize any additional samples or stocks of the material if aware of their existence.
D) (S//REL to USA, ACGU) Sample is in transit by commercial air via Diplomatic Pouch.
E) (S//REL to USA, ACGU) Intended destination of material: The subject indicated his first choice for a possible buyer of the alleged uranium is the United States, via the Embassy in Rangoon. Other stated options include the Thai and Chinese Embassies. His intent appears to be to sell the material in Rangoon. Subject made no mention of intent to move material across borders.
F) Unknown.
G - J) (S//NF) Subject identified himself as XXXXXXXXXXXX .
(S//REL TO USA, ACGU) The subject brought with him a small bottle weighing 1.8 ounces and measuring 70 mm long by 26 mm in diameter, which was half-filled with a grey metallic powder. He claimed the material in question was Uranium-238 in powder form. The subject claims to represent a small group that wants to sell uranium to the U.S. Embassy. According to the subject, he has 50 kilograms of uranium-containing rock or ore at an undisclosed location in Rangoon, which is stored in a barrel that prevents the radioactivity from being toxic XXXXXXXXXXXX . He estimates there are at least 2000 more kilograms that could be dug up from the
site in Kayah State. The uranium was only recently brought to Rangoon (subject would not give a specific time frame). The subject claimed the uranium was discovered in Kayah state in 1992. XXXXXXXXXXXX

if that is released unredacted and that person is not in US protective custody they are dead.

Scary.

PB

Just that he walked in with the material in a small glass vial and then the next thing you read is the material was sent to the US via commercial flight after packed in lead, glass, and wood to be tested in Virginia.
Soooo, did the guy just say "Ok, here ya go, see ya later, let me know how the testing turns out" and leave the embassy...did he get paid then, later, at all?

And what exactly was the exposure risk of carrying the uranium around in a small glass vial? Quite a contrast of seeing the description of what he carried it in compared to what the US packed it in to transport it to the US via commercial flight.

If you wrap it around a hydrogen bomb, it will explode. No lesser force will set of U238 in bulk.

An ounce or so in a phial if burnt might conceiveably cause a few cancers if burnt and the fumes inhaled. Or perhaps if ingested. Otherwise it's only weapon value is in the form of a high density projectile.


50 kg of clean top grade uranium ore will yield perhaps 250g of weapon's grade material if perfectly refined and separated.

So with the whole two tons (if it were the good stuff) mentioned and a few hundred million in rather esoteric enrichment equipment, you could have enough to make one bomb. And maybe a few scraps to spare. In about a year.


Fortunately Uranium is a bastard to enrich, because building a bomb from it really is a trivial exercise.


In another time and another place, this fellow would be figuring how many trips it will take to get Lady Liberty to the scrap merchant, and whether it's worth getting cousin Clem's pickup back on the road.

Or he'd be selling her three times a day to bumpkins.

Someone here is selling a pig in a poke, all on the strength of what would appear to be a university (or perhaps high school) laboratory sample. And perhaps a tiny pocket of low grade ore somewhere.

Uranium isn't all that hard to find. Finding it in commercially minable quantities is a different matter entirely. Small one or two man operations, not too heavily burdened by regulation might successfully work the smaller pockets, but ultimately they have to sell and buyers for unrefined uranium ore are few and far between, and those buyers are under no obligation to offer anything resembling fair market price. IIRC the SW US is peppered with failed Uranium stakes.


Just a little basic knowledge about the materials involved and how they are used, is enough to see just how inoccuous (and begging of the credulity of some of the parties involved) the contents of this cable are. Perhaps this fellow's first interviewer might have been credulous and ignorant enough to perceive a threat, but you can bet you bottom dollar someone was giggling at either this bloke's stupidity or his belief in their (US) stupidity before the cable was composed and sent. But of course it could always be dressed up as a threat, or threat thwarted, so off to Washinton it goes.

Please note: I am not belittling the potential threat inherent in an unrestricted trade in nuclear materials, just putting this particular joke of a threat in perspective.

Certain individuals taking an unpopular stance here at the moment, might also note that a serious offer to sell serious nuclear materials in ANY quantity would not receive a security classification below TOP SECRET. Move along people, there is in fact nothing to see here.

hopefully all names are redacted. Until a poison pill is released, I bet they have great civil rights lawyers there and in n korea.

And so will the Guardian, it seems.

where a citizen's life could be compromised if unredacted info gets out.

Burma may be building missile and nuclear sites in remote locations with support from North Korea, according to secret US cables released by Wikileaks.

The documents cite witnesses who say North Korean workers are helping Burma construct an underground bunker in a remote jungle.

The move underlines concern that the Burmese regime might be trying to build a nuclear weapon, despite denials.

=snip=

A cable dating from August 2004 spoke of a Burmese officer in an engineering unit who said surface-to-air missiles were being built at a site in a town called Minbu in west-central Myanmar.

"The North Koreans, aided by Burmese workers, are constructing a concrete-reinforced underground facility that is '500ft from the top of the cave to the top of the hill above'," http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/20129">reads the cable, published by the Guardian newspaper.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11966136