Norway: A Case of Hot Water

Norway has no nuclear power stations and prohibits nuclear weapons on its territory in peacetime, but its no-nukes policy has failed to protect it from nuclear scandal. Last week the Norwegian Foreign Ministry confirmed that some 15 tons of the country's heavy water was diverted in 1983 to an unknown destination. Prized for its purity, Norwegian heavy water, or deuterium oxide, is used as a coolant in nuclear reactors and to produce plutonium, an ingredient in nuclear bombs.

The water is believed to have been shipped to Switzerland before being passed on to India, which is thought to be thirsty for deuterium oxide for its two reactors and four nuclear power plants. Norway will not export heavy water to India because that country has not signed the 1968 Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Asked about the missing liquid, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said, "We have got enough heavy water of our own. We don't need to get it from outside."