Pakistan conducted its first nuclear test in May 1998, after almost three decades of building up the necessary technology. Abdul Qadeer Khan was the key player in this effort, and Henk Slebos, whom he first met at Delft University in the 1970s, was an important contact in a trade that allowed Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons. Project Butter Factory tells the story of Henk Slebos, A.Q. Khan and the failed international effort to control nuclear proliferation. It is a story of how the drive for profit, competing political interests and weak regulations in the Netherlands allowed the export of dual-use nuclear components to continue unchecked. The Slebos case is a clear example of the failed international effort to control nuclear proliferation. If lessons are to be learnt, writes Frank Slijper, then it is high time for the reform of the system governing dual-use exports at EU level, and for the existing nuclear powers to stop turning a blind eye to proliferation and start serious disarmament.
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