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Japan Calculates Cost of Nuclear Bomb
Japan will need no less than three years and from $2 billion to $3 billion to create a nuclear warhead, Sankei Simbun of Japan announced referring to the secret report evaluating the country’s capacity to develop its own prototype weapon. Official Tokyo said it knew nothing about the document. Nevertheless, if available, the report signals Japan could be seriously studying the chances of having a nuclear weapon of its own.
The conclusion made in the report On the Possibility of Developing Nuclear Weapons Domestically published by Sankei Simbun is as following: Japan will need at least three to five years to develop a small-scale nuclear warhead. The budget will be between ¥200 billion and ¥300 billion (roughly $2 billion to $3 billion) and it will need hundreds of engineers. The terms and the costs would step up should there be no chance to conduct a nuclear test.
The report also says that producing the bombs dropped at Nagasaki and Hiroshima will require constructing new nuclear plants and the scientists of Japan will have to develop respective technology. Even if Japan ultimately decides to create a bomb it will have to start from scratch, so it is unable to independently defend itself against the nuclear threat of North Korea.
But the date of the report summed up by Sankei is interesting. It is September 20, i.e. it had been made out before North Korea conducted its first nuclear test October 9. So the obvious question is who and for what purpose had committed the experts to look into the nuclear possibility for Japan.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 26, 2006
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