(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[exports] Seven of the eleven registered exports of Norwegian heavy water in the period 1996-2004 were ordinary exports. It shows new figures from the Ministry of Finance (see table in the paper edition of Ny Tid 37 2006). Two of the exports were returned after a complaint and another sale.
Following Ny Tid's announcement in August that Norway has continued to export heavy water after the factory at Rjukan was closed down in 1988, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given the impression that these exports are about either upgrade jobs or research.
After the Ministry of Finance dealt with Ny Tid's complaint about access to exports, the Directorate of Customs and Excise has been ordered to present some more of the documentation that was requested.
The new information now available also confirms that the export of just over 1,1 tonnes of heavy water in 1998 was an upgrade job of heavy water in Denmark. There was also a big export in 2001.
The new information shows that the recipient countries of heavy water during the period were Sweden, Denmark, England and Canada. But the Ministry is still keeping secret who in the countries that are buying and who in Norway is selling the heavy water.
For the years 1991-1994, the Ministry has now stated the amount of heavy water exported, in addition to Statistics Norway's figures indicating the values of exports for these years, but not the purpose of the exports.
- It is good that the ministry is now publishing more information, says Alexander Harang in the Norwegian Peace League. But he also wants insight into who buys and sells the heavy water.
"In the Ministry's opinion, information on the quantity and value of exports, together with a list of who exports, is confidential information pursuant to section 8 of the Customs Act," writes Thorbjørn Gjølstad, head of operations at the Ministry of Finance to Ny Tid.
No new information on exports was published in the years 1988-1990.
