Report Cites Lax Controls on A-Arms Exports : Nuclear proliferation: Seven nations have advanced weapons programs. West Germany gets special criticism.

Despite treaties intended to stop the spread of nuclear arms, at least seven nations have developed or expanded weapons programs by smuggling key components through glaring loopholes in international safeguards, a private research organization said Tuesday.

West Germany was singled out for special criticism as “the weak link in this multilateral export control system” in the report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which also pointed to technology leaks in many industrialized nations.

Argentina, Brazil, India, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan and South Africa have exploited gaps in the safeguards, said the report, written by Leonard S. Spector, a former chief counsel of a Senate subcommitte on energy and nuclear proliferation. Israel was omitted from the list because its nuclear weapons program was begun in the 1950s, predating the non-proliferation treaty.

None of the nations have confirmed they have nuclear weapons programs, although Spector said there is little doubt that all are working on bomb programs. He said Iraq apparently is five to 10 years away from producing a usable weapon, while the others apparently either have weapons already or could produce them in the near future.

Spector described Israel, India, Pakistan and South Africa as “ de facto nuclear powers.”

He said that in some cases, agents of the emerging nuclear powers “engaged in simple smuggling.” At other times, he said, the nations “have seemingly complied with export licensing requirements, obtaining necessary export approvals” by persuading controllers that the equipment was needed for some non-weapons purpose.

The report said that businesses in the United States, Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, China and Italy were implicated in nuclear technology transfers. But it cited West Germany far more often than any of the others.

For instance, it said that last year, investigators uncovered a Pakistani smuggling network involving the West German firm Neue Technologien and a subsidiary that the company established to mask its participation. The firms provided such items as containers for uranium fuel and milling machines needed to form uranium into weapons components.

In addition, it said that a West German businessman, Alfred Hempel, provided nuclear material to India and Argentina. Hempel, who died last year, used companies in several other countries to avoid detection.

Spector said the Bonn government recently tried to plug some of the leaks but was frustrated by opposition in Parliament.

He said West Germany’s “liberal export practices have also facilitated the spread of chemical weapons and ballistic missile capabilities in the developing world.”

The West German government in early 1989 “significantly tightened its export licensing procedures and introduced new legislation to increase the penalties for export control violations,” the report said. The legislation would also subject German nationals operating outside the country to criminal penalties for assisting foreign nuclear weapon, chemical weapon or missile programs.

“Unfortunately, the legislation has been stalled in committee,” the report said. “In late 1989, it appeared that West German industry lobbyists, with quiet government backing, were succeeding in an effort to weaken this aspect of the pending law.”