The UK's role in proliferation

It is often feared that countries acquiring nuclear power technology may subsequently obtain nuclear weapons. The author examines the part played by the UK in the spread of nuclear technology, and finds that it is as culpable as any other country. The two main accusations are that British companies, with the knowledge and approval of the British government, were exporting machines to Iran which could be used in their nuclear weapons programme, and that plutonium, obtained in British reprocessing plants will be exported, making it more accessible to countries with aspirations to having nuclear weapons. (author)