NEW DELHI - India has started expanding a covert uranium enrichment plant that could potentially support the development of thermonuclear weapons, a defence research group has stated, raising the stakes in an arms race with China and Pakistan.

The revelation highlights a lack of nuclear safeguards on India under new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while sanctions-bound Iran faces minute scrutiny in talks with world powers over its own nuclear programme. The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s investigations indicate that new units at the Indian Rare Metals Plant are set to boost India\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ability to produce weapons-grade uranium to twice the amount needed for its planned nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

The facility, located near Mysore in southern India, is scheduled to be operational by mid-2015.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Taking into account all the enriched uranium likely to be needed by the Indian nuclear submarine fleet, there is likely to be a significant excess and one potential use of this would be for the development of thermonuclear weapons,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' says Matthew Clements, editor of IHS Jane\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Intelligence Review.

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s investigations indicate that India has remained intensively involved in illicit nuclear trade for a couple of decades and its notorious nuclear proliferation network that is globally known as Parasad-Chauhdary proliferation network managed to smuggle in and smuggle out a number of illegal nuclear components while the theft of Uranium and nuclear isotopes is a routine matter across India and with state of affairs, India\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s stepping up for production of thermonuclear weapons is all set put the entire region as well as the rest of the world in an extreme nuclear jeopardy.

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s findings indicate that the officials of IAEA were much alarmed over the constant cases of radioactive material from a number of defence and civilian nuclear facilities across India and after the case of radioactive isotope cylinders going missing from a steel plant in Durgapur district of India, a few years back, the state of panic at the global nuclear watchdog reached to the maximum levels.

According to these investigations, radioactive isotopes stolen from inside SAIL\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Durgapur Steel Plant, in 2011were found dumped in a community washroom of a slum adjacent to the plant later. The police booked one scrap dealer on a charge of pilferage.

The disappearance of the radioactive material had raised fears of a repeat a year earlier Mayapuri incident, in which a Delhi scrap dealer had died after coming into contact with radioactive waste.

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s finding reveal that scientists were sent to Durgapur after the Durgapur Steel Plant authorities informed the Indian Ministries of Steel and Environment & Forest about the loss of the radioactive material.

The radioactive material, according to DSP officials: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Are deadly harmful for human beings and are supposed to be preserved in a secure environment.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'

The DSP\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Quality Control department imports radioactive isotopes of Cesium 137 (0.56 Micro Electron Volt) & Cobalt 60 (1.33 MeV) for level measurement of finished products.

Senior plant officials, scientists and police expressed surprise how the hyper-sensitive isotope capsules could be pilfered from inside the plant which is under strict surveillance of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

The plant is guarded round the clock by a force of more than 1500 CISF security personnel.

The district police were informed about the mysterious disappearance of four isotope cylinders two days ago. Dr AK Roy, GM, Quality Control, of DSP lodged a complaint at Durgapur police station.

The OC, Durgapur Mr Shankha Biswas, acting on a tip-off, raided the slum area adjacent to the plant\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s main gate, accompanied by the BARC scientists and recovered the radioactive capsules today.

A scrap dealer, Sheikh Tauhid, was arrested for possessing the isotope capsules.

The BARC scientists identified the radioactive material with the help of a Geiger counter.

Mr S Sinha Sarkar, ASP, Durgapur, said: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'From what we have learnt, the capsules were 40 per cent used and had enough potential to cause harm to the community.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Investigations are on, he said.

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s investigations indicate that a \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Radiation Facility\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' is defined by the AERB as \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Any installation/equipment or a practice involving use of radiation-generating units or use of radioisotopes in the field of research, industry, medicine and agriculture\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'

A review of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'unusual occurrences\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' contained within the AERB\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s annual reports reveals that there have been 16 cases of loss, theft or misplacement of radioactive sources across India since 2001, in which radioactive material found its way into the environment. In 11 of these incidents, the source was never found.

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s investigations further indicate that not long ago Indian nuclear and missile proliferation racketeers smuggled numerous banned nuclear and missile materials, parts and equipment in violation of US Department of Commerce\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Entity List. According to The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s investigations, the banned items were imported to South Africa through an Israeli intermediary Asher Karni by an Indian, identified as Rago Rao, acting on behalf Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), in Thiruvananthampuram, India.

Comprehensive investigations, carried out by The Daily Mail reveal that Rago Rao, asked his Israeli \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'business\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' associate, Karni to quote a price on a \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'12-inch ANSI 300 Mode180 flexflo Regulator, FIN: 11351 NKA-120,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' made by Grove Regulators of Elk Grove, IL. VSSC is on the Department of Commerce\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Entity List, a list of entities of proliferation concern. The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s research reveals that Rao told Karni in an email, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Owing to the fact that VSSC are still in the US embargo list, they believe they may not be able to procure it directly (from) the supplier, hence have sent the enquiry to us to see if we can quote to them and supply from some other source.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' In quoting Rao, Karni said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'be aware that the end user VSSC has been in direct touch with GROVE and have received already quotes from them, but they have quoted me too, and I will be able to execute the order.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' After receiving a quote from Karni, Rao replied, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'VSSC needs the item definitely, so if GROVE is willing to supply through you, they will not mind paying the extra price. That is why the end-user contacted us in the first place when he knew he could use our services through South Africa. So, if GROVE do not mind supplying the item to you, knowing that it is meant for VSSC, let us go ahead.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s findings reveal that shortly after purchase of Grove Regulators item through transshipment and misrepresenting the end user, Rao asked Karni to quote a price for \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Absolute Capacitance Manometers,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' model 720, made by Setra Systems Inc. of Boxborough, Massachusetts. The customer was again VSSC. Rao said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'For reasons mentioned earlier regarding the export sanctions, Setra must not come to know that the ultimate consignee is VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Karni responded, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'I did not tell them [Setra] of course hwre [sic] it is [sic] going to, so please give me some description of the application so that I can feed it back to them and will see if they will ask for IVL to this country.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' IVL refers to an individually validated license, an export license from the Department of Commerce that would allow a one-time sale of a controlled item for a specifically defined end user and use. As VSSC is on the Department of Commerce\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Entity List of entities of proliferation concern, it is highly unlikely an IVL would be granted.

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s investigations indicate that the Rao - Karni Nuclear Missile Trafficking Nexus (RKNMTN) did not stop here but in fact, soon entered in the deal for transshipment of accelerometer made by Columbia Research Laboratories or Crossbow. In his email to Karni, Rao reminded him of an order he had placed for two accelerometers from Columbia Research Laboratories (Woodlyn, Pennsylvania), model SA-122 SE. The customer was Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of India, also on the Department of Commerce\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Entity List. Rao reminded Karni, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'At the last moment, the supplier was refused an export license by US Government hence you could not supply the item and the order was cancelled.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Rao then asked Karni to quote \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Model CXL 01LF1Z High Stability LF series Accelerometer,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' made by Crossbow of San Jose, California. Karni replied that he would quote the item, though it might not meet the specifications of the previous item. He said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'I can also approach Columbia [sic] for a quote and see they may not want an export license this time.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Rao replied, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Be careful to avoid any reference to the customer name Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, because any supply to their organization requires an export license at the moment, and it may be denied.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' He said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'There is a danger that Columbia may be denied the export license once again, since this model of accelerometer falls in the commodity list (because of its very high sensitivity and threshold value, and inherent possibility of being used in guidance systems for missiles.) That requires an export clearance from the US authorities for any country, leave alone India. I leave it to you to judge the best way out.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Again the accelerometers were exported from US to South Africa and transshipped to India for use in India\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s WMD program.

It is pertinent to mention here that these illicit Indian procurement tactics in violation of US Export Licensing legislation make a mockery of the claims by the Indian Caucus Congressmen and Bush Administration\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s claims that India is a responsible nuclear- missile possessor country, which could be trusted.

The game does not end here. The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s further investigations into the matter, make some more shocking revelations. These investigations unearth that India imported beryllium, used for constructing nuclear bombs from Germany not long ago. The Hanau-based Degussa company is suspected of having exported 95 kg to India. The US, which now wants the Nuclear Suppliers Group to approve its nuclear deal with India, had strongly protested to the Germans over this deal.

The delivery, according to German nuclear researcher Gerhard Locke, is `most suspicious\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' and delivered to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Trombay, north of Bombay after series of transshipments and change of end users.

According to The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s research, International safeguard controls have no access to information regarding the amount of plutonium-the stuff of which the bomb is made of-the nuclear reactors in Trombay do breed. What is certain is that the material for India\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s first nuclear explosion in 1974 was provided by Trombay. However, the U.S. experts estimate its present plutonium production at some 40 kg per year.

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s research indicates that the US Administration had stopped all U.S. deliveries of this kind to India; at that time secret intelligence services noticed intensive efforts by India to start a second nuclear test, possibly with a hydrogen bomb.

Similar reports were also spread by the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) almost 2 years later. The `BARC Nuclear Research Center in Trombay,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' the BND warned in a classified report, had been ordered by the Indian Defense Ministry to `expedite work on developing a nuclear fusion weapon (hydrogen bomb).\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s investigations reveal further that in its application for exports, Degussa put under the heading `use\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' `research and development work\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' in smelting, compressing, and casting of beryllium, which is often used for alloys. Material of `high purity\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'-at least 98 percent-had been ordered.

According to experts, the amount of beryllium, ordered at that time makes sense: 95 kg-this is `a manageable amount for about 20 bombs,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' says arms researcher Locke.

In building a hydrogen bomb, the metal can be put around the radioactive core as a sheath. The desired effect: According to Locke, the neutron-multiplying properties of the relatively cheap beryllium reduce the demand for valuable plutonium `by a factor of about two.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'

The Daily Mail\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s findings further reveal that the German experts expressly warned against the fact that the metal can `be used as a neutron reflector for the construction of nuclear weapons,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' when they had to deal with an application for the export of 60 kg of beryllium nitrate to India. The BAW calculated-at the most 2.637kg\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' of pure beryllium can be produced from the nitrate was the permit issued at that time.

The Res

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