WORLD / Asia-Pacific
French minister questions nuclear test
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-12 08:50
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said yesterday that the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) reported nuclear bomb test
produced an explosion so small that if indeed nuclear, it was a failure.
France's Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie leaves a hotel in Paris in
this September 27, 2006 photo. She said North Korea reported nuclear bomb
test produced an explosion so small that if indeed nuclear, it was a
failure. [Reuters]
French experts have not yet determined the precise cause of the DPRK's
explosion, she told French radio, but French, US and other scientists
detected that it was of "relatively limited size."
"In any case, if this was a nuclear explosion, it would be a case of a
failed explosion," she said, adding "that doesn't change anything about
the severity of things" because it would still hurt efforts to bring
stability to East Asia.
French experts, working from international seismological data gathered at
the time of the blast, say the explosion mustered a force equivalent to
that caused by 500-1,000 tons of TNT.
However, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov initially said the blast
had a destructive power of between 5,000-15,000 tons of TNT. The atomic
bomb that struck Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, also had a force of
about 15,000 tons.
Xavier Clement of France's Atomic Energy Commission said he could not
explain how the Russians could have come up with that figure.
"It's a hypothesis, not shared by us and other countries who also possess
this type of high-precision analysis," he said in a telephone interview.
"(The information) we are giving right now is credible."
Clement said the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization,
which has some 200 stations worldwide that can monitor nuclear tests, has
not yet provided member country France with any radiological data that
could help determine the type of explosion.
"What's important is to determine is whether this was chemical or
nuclear," Clement said, saying that seismological data was being
collected to try to differentiate between the two. "It's possible that we
never will."
Alliot-Marie, who relies on the atomic commission for her information on
the test, on Monday was among the first Western policy makers to suggest
it could have been a dud.
The comments yesterday were her strongest so far about the possibility of
a failed test, suggesting that that theory was gaining credence among
French experts.
Although the blast from the nuclear weapons test was strong enough to
send seismic waves as far as Japan's main island, verifying exactly what
happened could take several more days, if not weeks, officials said
yesterday.
"We are still currently investigating various matters and we will
continue to work on confirming the facts," said Japan's chief government
spokesman, Yasuhisa Shiozaki. Shiozaki has said officials are not even at
the stage when they can predict how long the verification process will
take.
US military officials, meanwhile, remained quiet, confirming only that
they are monitoring the situation. The United States has WC-135
reconnaissance planes deployed on the southern Japan island of Okinawa
that can sniff out radiation in the air and glean other data on the test.
Washington also regularly flies U-2 spy planes out of an air base in the
Republic of Korea (ROK).
Yesterday, a British Royal Air Force VC-10 refuelling plane arrived at
Yokota Air Base, just outside of Tokyo, to assist in the verification
effort under the auspices of the United Nations. It later flew to Kadena
Air Base on Okinawa, where the WC-135s are based.
"The UK is assisting in international operations in respect to verifying
the DPRK's nuclear tests," said Clive Hughes, the press attache for the
British Embassy in Tokyo. He refused to provide further details.
Though it would seem easy to confirm a nuclear explosion, the technical
challenges can be daunting.
The White House has acknowledged there is a "remote possibility" that the
world never will be able to fully determine whether the DPRK succeeded in
conducting the test.
A leading Japanese nuclear expert agreed.
"It is possible with a relatively small underground blast that there
would be no significant release of radiation," said Hideshi Takesada, of
the National Institute for Defence Studies, a branch of Japan's Defence
Agency.
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