WMD 411 Chronology — 1998

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Produced by the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies

KEY: [B] Biological, [C] Chemical, [M] Missile, [N] Nuclear, [O] Organization [T] Terrorism

Feb 1998 [N] The United States and the Russian Federation have completed nuclear material control and accounting upgrades at four Russian facilities: the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics; the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research; the Karpov Institute of Physical Chemistry; and the Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering. The upgrades are part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Material protection, control, and accounting (MPC&A) program.

Feb 19 1998 [N] The European Parliament passes a resolution calling on the U.S. government to "halt the series of sub-critical tests" and for "all governments to refrain from carrying out such tests."

March 1998 [N] The United States and Russia announce the successful field test of two Russian railcars with improved security features to protect the shipment of weapons-usable nuclear material. Rapid upgrades will begin on 31 railcars that are used to transport special nuclear material for the Russian Federation Ministry of Atomic Energy. The upgrades are part of the U.S. DOE's Material protection, control, and accounting (MPC&A) program.

March 25 1998 [N] The United States conducts a sub-critical nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.

March 27 1998 [N] The Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (the Bangkok Treaty) enters into force.

April 1998 [N] The Pentagon submits a highly classified report to Congress outlining nine proposals for reducing the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal to below the 6,000 nuclear warheads allowed by START I.

April 6 1998 [N] Britain and France become the first nuclear weapon states to ratify the CTBT, banning all nuclear weapons test explosions.

April 6 1998 [M] Pakistan announces that it has successfully test-fired a medium-range surface-to-surface missile that is believed to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

May 1998 [N] The U.S. Department of Energy completes the installation of Material protection, control, and accounting (MPC&A) equipment at the All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics, a nuclear weapons production facility in Snezhinsk, Russia.

May 11-13 1998 [N] India conducts five underground nuclear weapons tests, thus demonstrating to the international community that it is a nuclear-weapons capable state.

May 12 1998 [M] The U.S. Army conducts an unsuccessful test of a THAAD missile interceptor at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It is the eighth test of the THAAD system.

May 20 1998 [B] Russian defector Kanatjan Alibekov, aka Kenneth Alibek, a former deputy director of the Soviet/Russian biological warfare development program, testifies to Congress that various biological agents were either weaponized or researched by the Soviet/Russian BW program.

May 28-30 1998 [N] In response to India's nuclear tests (see entry from May 11 1998 above), Pakistan conducts six underground nuclear weapons tests.

June 1998 [N] The United States and Britain successfully complete Operation Auburn Endeavor, a secret mission to remove HEU from the former Soviet republic of Georgia to a permanent storage location in Scotland.

June 6 1998 [N] The UN Security Council passes resolution 1172, condemning the nuclear tests conducted in India and Pakistan as a threat to global nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. The resolution urges the countries to become parties to the NPT without delay or conditions.

June 9 1998 [N] Foreign Ministers of Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia, South Africa, and Sweden issue a joint declaration entitled Towards a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: The Need for a New Agenda, calling upon states to commit themselves to the elimination of their nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons capability. These states are known as the New Agenda Coalition (NAC).

June 11 1998 [M] In testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency's Nonproliferation Center Dr. Gordon Oehler states that China began supplying Pakistan with ballistic missile technologies and missiles in the early 1990s. In response to these technology and missile sales, the United States imposed sanctions against China and Pakistan. According to Oehler, China stopped selling missiles and began transferring production technologies and components in late 1992. Dr. Oehler also notes that although production technologies and components are covered under the MTCR, "they are easier to hide, or can be claimed to be for non-MTCR-related systems."

June 18 1998 [N] The British government announces plans to unilaterally cut the number of nuclear warheads on its Trident submarines by up to half and offers to provide on-the-record information about warhead numbers and fissile material.

June 22 1998 [M] Iran test-fires a medium-range missile, the Shahab-3, which explodes about 100 seconds into the flight. The missile, with a range of about 800 miles, is capable of hitting Israel and Saudi Arabia, and is based on a North Korean Rodong missile.

June 27 1998 [M] Following summit meetings in Beijing, the United States and China issue a Joint Statement on South Asia, stating that U.S. and Chinese "policies are to prevent the export of equipment, materials or technology that could in any way assist programs in India or Pakistan for nuclear weapons or for ballistic missiles capable of delivering such weapons, and that to this end, we will strengthen our national export control systems."

Aug 11 1998 [N] The Conference on Disarmament establishes an ad hoc committee to commence negotiations on a FMCT.

Aug 31 1998 [M] North Korea tests a medium-range missile, the Taepodong-1, with a range of up to 1,240 miles. The test, which carries the missile's second stage over Japan, comes just days before de facto leader Kim Jong Il was expected to become president. North Korea claims the launch was a failed attempt to send a satellite into orbit.

Sept 2 1998 [N, M] U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Joint Statement on the Exchange of Information on Missile Launches and Early Warning. The initiative provides for continuous exchange of information on the launches of ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles derived from each side's missile launch warning system, including the possible establishment of a center for the exchange of missile launch data operated by the United States and Russia and separate from their respective national centers. As part of this initiative, the United States and Russia will also examine the possibility of establishing a multilateral ballistic missile and space launch vehicle pre-launch notification regime in which other states could voluntarily participate.

Sept 14-Dec 13 1998 [N] Russia conducts five sub-critical nuclear tests at Novaya Zemlya, its artic testing range.

Sept 18 1998 [N] Brazil accedes to the NPT, thus increasing the number of States parties to 187.

Sept 21 1998 [N] The U.S. Congress approves $20 million for the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP). The program partners weapons research institutes in Russia and the former Soviet Union with U.S. businesses with the idea that they will develop and commercialize civil technologies. IPP works to create civilian research jobs for former weapons scientists.

Sept 26 1998 [N] The U.S. Department of Energy conducts its fourth sub-critical nuclear test in the Nevada desert, 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Oct 1 1998 [N, M, C, B] The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is established. DTRA brings together Department of Defense resources, experience and technical expertise to understand, prevent, deter and defend against WMD threats.

Oct 7 1998 [M] Russia successfully test-fires an RS-18 ICBM from the Baykonur test site in Kazakhstan to the Kamchatka test range.  The missile had been in service with the Strategic Rocket Forces (SRF) for twenty years. The test was part of a program to confirm the combat readiness of older ICBMs and to collect information on extending their service life.

Oct 8 1998 [N] The United States and Ukraine open the Kuzmycz Training Center in Kyiv, Ukraine. The center will provide training in modern physical protection and material accounting systems for nuclear materials under the auspices of the U.S. DOE's Material protection, control, and accounting (MPC&A) program.

Oct 22 1998 [M] Russia test-fires a Topol-M missile at the Plesetsk missile test site in northern Russia. According to initial official reports the purpose of the launch is to test the missile's self-destruction system. Shortly after launch, the missile is successfully destroyed. Later reports claim an unordered triggering of the self-destruct system caused the missile to explode.

Oct 29 1998 [N] The U.S. Department of Energy unveils its supercomputer, Pacific Blue, at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Northern California. Manufactured by IBM, Pacific Blue is capable of simulating nuclear tests as part of the Stockpile Stewardship Management Program. By combining data obtained from past nuclear testing programs with the computer modeling data from Pacific Blue, the Stockpile Stewardship Management Program monitors and ensures the safety and reliability of the aging U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

Nov 3 1998 [N] The United States and Russia finish the installation of upgraded nuclear security systems at the Russian Central Storage Facility and the Central Alarm Station at the Luch Scientific Production Association (NPO Luch). These upgrades will help secure and control over 80 percent of the weapons-usable nuclear material at the facility, reducing the risk of worldwide nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism.

Nov 4 1998 [N] The United States, the European Commission, and Russia celebrate the official grand opening of the Russian Methodological Training Center (RMTC), the state central training center for nuclear materials safeguards in Obninsk, Russia. These ceremonies acknowledge the MPC&A cooperative work undertaken by the international community to establish, train, fund, and equip the RMTC.

Nov 6 1998 [N] The United States and Russia commemorate the completion of MPC&A upgrades at the Krylov Shipbuilding Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia. Krylov is the 19th site to have finished the installation of site-wide security upgrades under the MPC&A program.

Nov 24 1998 [N] Russian Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov signs an agreement with Iran's Atomic Energy Organization to complete the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Dec 1998 [B, C, M] UN weapons inspections in Iraq cease following the U.S. military's Operation Desert Fox strikes Iraqi facilities.

Dec 4 1998 [N] The UN General Assembly adopts resolution A/53/584 on "Mongolia's international security and nuclear-weapon-free status" by consensus. Through its adoption, the Assembly was tackling the issue of the creation of "additional, but non-traditional," nuclear-weapon-free areas. The resolution confirms that even a single State has the right to acquire an internationally recognized nuclear-weapon-free status.

Dec 8 1998 [N] Russia conducts a sub-critical nuclear test at its Novaya Zemlya test site.

Dec 11 1998 [N] The United States conducts its fifth sub-critical nuclear test at the Los Alamos National Laboratory "U-1a" facility.

Dec 23 1998 [N] The U.S. Department of Energy announces it will award a multi-million-dollar contract to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to produce tritium, a hydrogen isotope, at the Watts Bar reactor 50 miles south of Knoxville. This is the first time in U.S. history that a civilian nuclear plant will be used to manufacture components for the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal.

Dec 24 1998 [N] Russian Deputy Nuclear Energy Minister Lev Ryabev acknowledges that Russia conducted five sub-critical nuclear tests at Novaya Zemlya between September 14 and December 13, 1998.

Dec 27 1998 [N, M] Russia deploys ten Topol-M nuclear missiles. Russian officials note that the deployment of the new Topol-M will allow Russia to ratify START II. They further note that the Topol-M increases Russian national security as it strengthens the ICBM component of the nuclear triad and replaces ICBMs that are nearing the end of their guaranteed service life.

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This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008 by MIIS.