Berlin stockpiles weapons grade Uranium
GARCHING A research reactor for making weapons-grade uranium has gone into production in Germany. Berlin now has sufficient weapons-grade material at its disposal to build its own atomic bombs. The technical preparations for developing Germany's own nuclear weapons systems are already available. German politicians and military experts have recently and repeatedly made known their intention of achieving control of atomic weapons. Germany is bound by treaty to renounce either building or possessing Nuclear, Biological or Chemical (NBC) weapons of any kind.
The controversial research reactor FRM-II in Garching near Munich is now officially in use. For at least the next six years the reactor will be fueled with uranium which is extremely highly enriched to above 90%. Highly enriched uranium is unusable for power generation, unnecessary for research but optimal for nuclear weapons. Unlike highly poisonous plutonium it is suitable for the production of atom bombs without much further technical effort and expenditure. The Pakistani atom bombs tested at the end of the Nineties were uranium bombs, built in this way. The construction of Pakistan's atom bombs was only possible with German support, which made a decisive contribution to the development of nuclear weapons in this south Asian country.
Grasping for the atom bomb
German and Austrian critics of the atomic reactor, who protested at the opening celebrations, fear that its establishment creates the conditions for Germany's bid for the atomic bomb. According to an Austrian position paper 1): ,,The congruence between the Garching reactor and German foreign policy is impressive. The creation of an EU nuclear strike force will admit Germany to the ranks of the nuclear powers. The Munich 'Centre for Applied Political Research' which is among the close circle of advisers to Federal Chancellor Schroeder, already demanded last year the creation of 'United European strategic strike forces' which should have the supreme command over a European nuclear capability. Thus the EU would have unfettered use of the means of international power politics".
In secret cooperation?
Berlin forced through this nuclear reactor, the only new construction of its type in the world, against all international critics and the determined opposition of the United States government. The USA, sole producer of enriched uranium in NATO tried to halt the German reactor programme. In 1991 as a first step they refused the supply of weapons grade uranium. For decades the USA has sponsored programmes to replace weapons-grade material with less highly enriched uranium and sought to initiate a boycott by all suppliers of weapons-grade uranium. In 1994 the US Department of Energy offered to place its research capabilities at the disposal of Garching with its world-leading best technologies in the production of non-weapons grade uranium. The German side immediately rejected this offer as provocation and interference.
Afterwards Germany secured Russia as a supplier rather than the European Atomic Community (Euratom). From a critical viewpoint this explosive German-Russian nuclear cooperation recalls the forbidden activities of both sides between 1928-1932. Then the German Reichswehr (Army) cooperated with the Red Army so that Berlin could circumvent the armament restrictions of the Versailles Treaty. 2)
The atomic reactor, now in production, is designed as a pretext for the storage of large quantities of weapons-grade uranium and for the building of nuclear weapons or the threat of building them. As early as 1996, Lamers and Pflueger, foreign policy spokesmen for the Christian Democrat parliamentary faction, established in a declared jointly that Berlin ,,is technically capable of developing these (nuclear) weapons systems at any given time".
1) Peace Workshop Linz: Garching near Munich on stream. See also ,,Downfall or ascent to world power"
2) See also earlier article Strategic Projects
Sources:
Germany's Uranium enough for own bombs; www.freenations.freeuk.com
Highly Enriched Diplomacy. Concerning the Research Reactor at Garching; Konkret 6/1996
Starter's shot for Garching; Deutschland Radio 09.06.2004
A Bottomless Nuclear Barrel; Neues Deutschland 09.06.2004