• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
RUSSIA-BURMA NUCLEAR INTELLIGENCE REPORT
 By Roland WatsonJune 26, 2008
 
We have new, disturbing, and detailed intelligence about the assistance Russia is providing Burma’sdictatorship, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), on its nuclear program and more generallyits military modernization. This new information both confirms earlier intelligence that we have published,and expands what is known about the overall program.
Nuclear reactor and uranium mining
It has been widely reported that Russia is going to provide Burma a nuclear reactor, for so-called“research” purposes. We have received information that the SPDC has now purchased the 10 MW reactor.It is not new, but is reportedly in good condition. It is being dismantled, transported to Burma, and rebuilt.While we cannot confirm that it has arrived, our sources say that installation is due to be completed byDecember this year. (We have previously reported that North Korean technicians will assist with theconstruction.)The reactor will be built at a site some ten kilometers from Kyauk Pa Toe (aka Kyauk Pha Htoe), in ThaBeik Kyin township, approximately one hundred kilometers north of Mandalay near the Irrawaddy River.In return for the reactor and other services, a Russian government mining company has receivedconcessions to mine gold, titanium and uranium. There are two gold mining sites: in Kyauk Pa Toe; and inthe mountains to the right of the Thazi-Shwe Nyaung railway line from Mandalay Division to SouthernShan State in the Pyin Nyaung area.Titanium is also being mined, or derived from the same ore, at Kyauk Pa Toe.Uranium is being mined at three locations: in the Pegu-Yoma mountain range in Pauk Kaung Township of Prome District (aka Pyi); in the Paing Ngort area in Mo Meik Township in Shan State; and at Kyauk PaToe.The reactor site has been chosen because of its proximity to the Tha Beik Kyin and Mo Meik uraniummines. It is likely that the gold mining operation at the former will be used as cover, to conceal the nuclear facilities.We have previously reported, from different sources, that the SPDC has a yellowcake mill somewhere inthe Tha Beik Kyin area. Now we know the exact location (or at least enough information to find it withsatellite imagery).The reactor has been publicized as being for research purposes, meaning research on nuclear power generation. We believe that the SPDC has no real interest in generating electricity, or at best that this is asecondary consideration, and that the primary purpose is atomic weapons development. Our sources saythat the SPDC expects to have full nuclear capability within ten years.Russia is presumably supplying the reactor fuel as well. While Burma has uranium ore, and mills to convertit to yellowcake, this must be enriched to create the fuel, typically using cascades of gas centrifuges. Wehave received one report that the SPDC has begun a centrifuge program, at the South Nawin Dam, but thisis unconfirmed. Barring this operation, the source of the fuel therefore must be Russia. Note: Locating the reactor at Kyauk Pa Toe really only makes sense if there are plans to build anenrichment facility there. This way you would have the full industrial cycle in close proximity: mine, mill,enrichment, and reactor.What is perhaps most disturbing about Russia’s program with the SPDC is that it is identical to the Soviet
 
Union’s assistance that propelled North Korea to become a nuclear power. Why, with the end of the SovietUnion and the Cold War, is Russia still helping rogue regimes proliferate? The surface answer of course ismoney, in this case in the form of natural resources, but the deeper question remains. Russia is consideredto be a democracy. What would the people of the country think of their leaders giving such help to the likesof the SPDC and Than Shwe?In 1965, the Soviet Union gave North Korea a 2 MW reactor, which was upgraded in 1973 to 8 MW. It alsosupplied fuel through at least this period. North Korea then went on to construct a much larger reactor, andin the 1980s began weapons development. This included building separation facilities to obtain plutonium,and high explosives detonation tests. (We have received reports that the SPDC has already conducted suchtests, in the Setkhya Mountains, aka Sa Kyin Mountains, southeast of Mandalay.) At some point NorthKorea also began its own uranium enrichment program, to produce weapons grade material, and the U.S.confronted the country about this in 2002. This means that the North has two different sources of fissilematerial for weapons, reactor plutonium and enriched uranium.The North detonated a small atomic weapon, with a yield of less than one kiloton, in October 2006, usingsome of its plutonium. It is now reportedly about to disclose its nuclear assets, and also destroy its plutonium producing reactor, but the sticking point has been the enriched uranium. The North appearsunwilling to discuss this (and at this point to disclose its weapons cache), which means that even with thedestruction of the reactor and the plutonium stockpile (for the latter the size of which is subject to seriousdispute), the North would retain the ability to produce weapons with the uranium. At the moment the U.S.appears willing to accept partial disclosure, i.e., of only the plutonium.In addition to Russia, North Korean technicians have been helping Burma with its nuclear ambitions (andother weapons programs), and we have received information that the SPDC has given the North refineduranium in return, which may be destined for the enrichment program.This is all very disturbing, all the more so because of the apparent weakness of the Bush Administration,which has been unwilling to press the North, and which refuses even to mention Burma (its nuclear  program). It took North Korea forty years before it detonated a weapon. It will likely take the SPDC only afraction of this period. Once the Burmese junta has atomic weapons, its rule will be entrenched, and itsneighbors, foremost Thailand, will be seriously endangered.
Precision-guided munitions
 We have also previously reported that Burma has a wide variety of missile installations, including largequantities of land-based SAMs; ship-launched missiles, both surface to air and surface to surface; weaponsfor its MIG 29s; and even short range ballistic missiles. We have now received information that whileBurma formerly bought anti-aircraft weapons from the Ukraine, in 2007 it purchased four shiploads of suchweapons from Russia. We have also learned that the SPDC has multi-tube mechanized rocket launchersfrom North Korea. (Note: these may be for use with the ballistic missiles, and if so they confirm our earlier intelligence.)Moreover, Burma is researching the production of guided missiles, and with Russian assistance intends to build a rocket factory in Thazi Township. This will mark the latest step in a well-recognized proliferationof Russian precision-guided munitions in the Asia Pacific region. This class of weapons includes surface toair, to attack jets, and surface to surface to attack land-based targets and also ships. Cruise missiles fallwithin the category. We do not know which specific PGMs the factory intends to produce, only that theywill be medium range guided rockets and that production is scheduled to begin within five years.It is clear that the SPDC is intent on developing a strong defense against an international intervention,including foreign jets, helicopters and ships. Perhaps one reason why the U.S. and the French balked atdropping relief supplies following Cyclone Nargis was the risk of missile attack on their helicopters andships.
Military modernization
 
 
 We have previously noted that the Burma Army is weapons-deficient. It is clear that the extensive procurement program underway with Russia, as well as China, North Korea and others, is intended torectify this. During the era of Ne Win and the BSPP (Burma Socialist Program Party), the junta establishedsix weapons production facilities. There are now twenty-two, and clearly more are planned.Coupled with the materiel acquisitions is a major educational program. There are more than 5,000 StateScholars in Russia, all of whom passed their Defense Services Academy class, a nine-month program in theRussian language, and an entrance exam in their specialty. (This is an increase from the 3,000 we previously reported.) They are candidates for either a masters (2 years) or doctorate (4 years – we previously reported 3 years for this degree). They study in Moscow or St. Petersburg, in the former in asuburb at the Moscow Air Institute. There are additional State Scholars from Burma in China, North Korea,Pakistan and India.One of the more recent groups of scholars, Batch Seven, included 1,100 DSA officers. Their majors are asfollows:250 Nuclear science100 Tunneling science200 Rockets100 Electronics200 Computer science100 Aircraft construction150 ArtilleryThe students also learn other military subjects, including: tanks; maintenance; anti-aircraft training;ammunition production; fighter pilot training; naval craft construction; naval craft captaincy; and anti-terrorist training.While it is clear that the overall modernization program will improve the SPDC’s preparedness againstattack, the junta still has a significant problem with soldier morale. Many of the state scholars, who are anelite in the Tatmadaw, are not motivated and would seek asylum given the chance. Their stipends barelycover their expenses. The Russian language and their training programs are difficult. They are overworkedand separated from the civilian population. Their visas prohibit them from buying air, train or long-distance bus tickets. When they return to Burma, some are used as Russian language teachers or as instructors at theSPDC’s Central Research and Training Unit, but many are sent to the front lines.As an example, in January this year one scholar fled to the border of Finland, but was arrested by Russianintelligence agents when he used his cell phone to call his contact on the other side. There is widespreaddissatisfaction at all levels within the SPDC, except perhaps the very top – although there is reportedly asplit there as well, between Than Shwe and Maung Aye. While the new weapons systems improve the junta’s defense against an intervention, they still need operators. The SPDC is poised to fall, through aninternal coup, and it is subject to a renewed popular uprising as well.Acquiring a nuclear weapon would alter this equation somewhat, but really only by creating a new defenseagainst an intervention, and this is as yet some years away, unless the SPDC acquires a warhead directlyfrom North Korea. Still, any such development has to be prevented, which raises the question, yet again:what is the U.S. doing? Under geopolitical realism, the only concerns are national interests. On asuperficial level, for the U.S. and Burma, these are limited to Chevron’s investment in Burma’s natural gas production and pipelines. A secondary interest is the concern of U.S. citizens of Burmese origin, but sincethis group is small it can effectively be ignored. It would seem, therefore, that all the Administration bluster notwithstanding, its only real policy objective for Burma is to protect Chevron, which corporation to bolster its case also makes large campaign donations.The real direct national interest of the United States is to deny Burma nuclear weapons. It is not only NorthKorea, Iran and Syria that America (and the world) must contain. Having a nuclear-armed SPDC is an
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...