EFSAS comments on the death of mass nuclear proliferator A.Q. Khan
October 16, 2021
A.Q. Khan went on to complete a PhD at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium and in 1972, he began working at Physical Dynamic Research Laboratory (FDO), a sub-contractor of Ultra Centrifuge Nederland (UCN). As per the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, A.Q. Khan thereafter began making unauthorized visits to the advanced UCN enrichment facility in Almelo, The Netherlands. By the mid-1970s, Khan had joined Pakistan’s clandestine efforts to develop nuclear weapons, and in 1975 he stole blueprints for centrifuges and other components from the Almelo facility and carried them to Pakistan along with the contact information of nearly a hundred companies active in related fields.
