Heavy water sale to Argentina approved

Press, 19 August 1983, Page 6

Heavy water sale to Argentina approved

NZPA Washington The United States has approved the Sale of 143 tonnes of heavy water to Argentina for use in nuclear reactors although the country refuses to open its atomic plants to international inspection, the “Washington Post” reports. The SUSIOO million ($1,540,000) sale had been approved after the Reagan Administration had received assurances that the heavy water would be used only in safeguarded electric power reactors, it said. The “Post” quoted a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, James Devine, as saying that the Argentinian Government had promised that “there would be no use of any items exported to Argentina in nuclear explosives.”

Heavy water, a liquid slightly more dense than ordinary water, is used in controlling nuclear chain reactions. The 143 tonnes of heavy water sold belonged to West Germany, but

United States Energy Department approval had been required because the material was produced in the United States. The Administration of the former President, Jimmy Carter, refused to approve nuclear sales to Argentina and pressured West Germany and Canada not to sell Argentina a heavy water nuclear plant unless that country agreed to open its plants to scrutiny. Argentina has not signed the Nuclear Non-prolifera-tion Treaty or ratified the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which declared Latin America a nuclear-free zone. Switzerland has already sold Argentina a heavy water nuclear plant that will be completed in 1985, but Argentina has encountered difficulty in buying large quantities of heavy water. Argentina has insisted on its right to stage peaceful nuclear explosions in addition to using nuclear plants to produce electric power.