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Brazil denies getting nuclear technology from Pakistan
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - The Brazilian government denied acquiring key nuclear technology from Pakistan amid allegations that a smuggling network headed by disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan may be the source. Brazil's navy, which launched the South American nation's nuclear program in the 1980s, said in a statement on Friday that it "denies any type of link with Pakistan regarding the development of Brazilian centrifuges." Brazil's Ministry of Science and Technology said it "objects to news accounts attributed to anonymous sources without the support of any institution or country and that try to link decades of scientific development and technologies to obscure procedures or to international scandals." Henry Sokolski, a former Pentagon official who now runs the Non-Proliferation Policy Education Center think tank in Washington, told AFP Friday that Brazil's centrifuges look similiar to a type sold by Khan's network, which supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea. On Thursday, the daily Estado de Sao Paulo reported that Sokolski said in Washington that officials in the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency suspect that the network is the source of Brazil's centrifuge technology. Brazil, which is widely believed to have a peaceful nuclear program, has since February blocked IAEA inspectors from coming to inspect its uranium enrichment facilities, saying it wanted to protect industry secrets. IAEA inspectors are due to arrive in Brazil on October 15 to resolved the dispute. Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-10-02 |
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