13 October 2004
Libya dismantles WMD
Work to identify and dismantle Libyan WMD, and the facilities linked to
them, has gone ahead with speed and efficiency, according to sources close
to the operation.
In the nuclear field, Libya was still a distance away from acquiring actual
fissile material, although it had obtained uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and
a number of centrifuges with the aim of eventually producing enriched uranium.
Libya's research reactor at Tuwaitha did use highly enriched uranium fuel
(which is now being converted to use low-enriched fuel), but it was under
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and there was no evidence
of any attempts to use the facility as an illicit source of weapons-grade
material.
Over the last 10 months, all the nuclear material and equipment, including
UF6 and centrifuges, have been removed from Libya with the authorities' full
co-operation. The highly enriched uranium fuel from the reactor remains in
Libya but under stringent IAEA safeguards.
A plant at Rabta was the focus of Libya's chemical weapons programme. However,
the plant had not produced chemical agents for some time and the inventory
of chemical agents equalled less than 25 tonnes of mustard gas, prepared
for filling aerial bombs. Libya admitted procuring equipment for a second
facility, but this was still in crates.
Since the beginning of the year, Libya has destroyed more than 3,000 unfilled
bomb casings intended for chemical agents and consolidated the agent inventory
in a single storage location to make inspection easier for the Organisation
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Libya has also acceded to
the Chemical Weapons Convention and is now preparing for the destruction of
its chemical stocks under OPCW supervision.
