Israel has rejected a request by Norway to clarify for the International Atomic Energy Agency the use it made of two consignments of heavy water it received from Norway in 1959 and 1970. Heavy water contains more than the usual proportion of heavy isotopes, such as deuterium, and is an important ingredient in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Israel’s response to the Norwegian request was conveyed by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway when they met at the conference of the Socialist International in Rome last week.
Israel maintains that the heavy water shipments from Norway were only two among several such deliveries to Israel over the years and therefore it is technically “impossible” to trace the use of individual consignments. Israel also alleged that the International Atomic Energy Agency is traditionally “unobjective.”
Norway made the request last month in connection with the case of Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at the Dimona nuclear facility in Israel who is awaiting trial here for treason for selling information about Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons capabilities to a British newspaper, the Sunday Times of London.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
