HC Deb 10 March 1982 vol 19 c405W
Mr. Latham

asked the Secretary of State for Defence which countries other than the five publicly declared nuclear weapons powers are believed to have (a) an immediately realisable potential to manufacture nuclear weapons, should they decide to do so, and (b) an existing stock of nuclear weapons, with an effective delivery system; what evidence exists for such a belief; and which of the countries named have signed the non-proliferation treaty.

Mr. Blaker

Any country with a developed industrial base would probably be capable of producing a nuclear weapon, though the lengh of time required for it to do so would depend on a variety of factors. However, we have no firm evidence which would lead us to conclude that any country apart from the five declared nuclear weapon states has manufactured nuclear weapons.

Back to
Forward to