U.S. REJECTS ATOMIC CLAIM BY INDONESIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200320040-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 18, 1999
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: February 3, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

FEB 3 1965
Sanitized - Approved For Release
STATINTL
,U* S. Rejects Atomic.-
Claim, by Indon e-sia
CPYRGI-IT.
(Chicane Tribune Press Servicnl eral Atomics division of the
Washington, Feb. 2-United General Dynamics corporation,.
States officials today dismissed
as sheer puffery a claim by
? Indonesia that it would deto-
nate an atomic bomb in Oc-
tober.
The officials said that Indo-
nesia, which recently quit the
United Nations, does not have
,-the know-how or facilities for
making a nuclear weapon.
The director of the Indone-
sian army arsenal, Brig. Gen.
;llartono, said today that 200
Indonesian scientists are work-
ing on the country's first atom-
ic bomb and promised a sur-
prise on the country's armed
forces day in October.
Trying to Impress World
"It could be that the general
merely is trying to impress the
world with his ' country's
growth," an American official
said.'
Another official said that
Hartono's claim could be put
in the same category as the
donesia planned to, orbit ? its
first astronaut in 1068.
As for Hartono's claim that.
200: scientists were working on
an atomic bomb, officials
doubted whether the country
has 200 persons with advanced,
degrees in physics.
Indonesia put an American
built nuclear reactor into oper-
ation last October at the Iii
stitute of Technology in Ban-,,
dung. But it is a small, .100
!,kilowatt apparatus , designed;.
for research and is incapable
,of producing fissionable mate
rials In sufficient quantities to
make a bomb, officials said.
Sold to Indonesia
The Bandung ? reactor was
sold to Indonesia by the Gen-
said,.
recent announcement that In-
with the United States govern-,
ment putting up $350,000 of the.
project's cost under the atoms
for-peace program. The reactot
is producing isotopes for med-
ical research.
A Russian - built reactor 1s.
being assembled in Surpong,,
Indonesia, but is not expected'
to go into operation until late,
1967. It is in about the same;
class as the reactor in Ban-.
dung, according to information
supplied to the Atomic Energy;
commission.
The fuel element for the
American reactor in Bandung:;
was supplied by the Atomic
Energy commission under an
agreement providing for peri
odic inspection by 'American
technicians.. No inspection has.
been necessary-, because the re-
actor "went critical!' less than!
four months.- ago, . an official
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200320040-4