Talk:Poland and weapons of mass destruction

There IS a source
Poland never had an active nuclear weapons program, and there are no sources to justify such an assertion. A recent article in Nonproliferation Review (see Hersman and Peters, Nonproliferation Review, Vol. 13, No. 3 "Nuclear U-Turns) listed 18 states that once had, but later abandoned nuclear weapons programs. These states constitute the "known universe" of verifiable NW programs Poland is not one of these.  While the Soviets undoubtedly did station tactical nuclear weapons in Poland during the Cold War, this does not constitute a Polish arsenal.  I'm going to change this article to reflect this until someone can come up with any citations, sources, or justifications for accusing Poland of having had a NW program.

I think I am the only one who can provide any information. Poland even now haves from 5 to 15 nuclear warheards. There, I say it, and I am a citizen of Poland.

~Dark Sturm II.

_________ So does Poland have them or not?

-G

They did. During the Cold War, they had Russian-controlled stockpiles, as well as a Russian-sponsored seperate nuclear program. Just like Kazahstan. You are right, it is confusing because the "Nuclear weapons" article mis-classified them. I'll fix it.

But why does the article say it was not officially a nuclear power. That's not correct. I'm getting rid of that too. Evan(Salad dressing is the milk of the infidel!) 19:33, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

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According to then-secret official documents of The Warsaw Pact published in April 2006 by Polish Ministry of Defense, Poland had 178 nuclear weapons during sixties and seventies, up to 250 nuclear weapons in the late eighties. According to the press notes they were meant as offensive only weapons that Warsaw Pact was to use in aggressive action against NATO countries as a first strike. Warsaw Pact's military doctrine stated that if war broke out nuclear weapons situated in Poland where to be deployed and launched before any succesful launch against Warsaw Pact from NATO. I'm posting here few of the press sources that states that. Unfortunatelly I don't have time to look for official documents, and I'm not sure if they are accessible to anyone but historians and journalists. Official documents were passed from Polish Ministry of National Defence to Institute of National Remembrance and access to archives here in Poland is limited.

Here are press notes from journalists that had access to those documents (in Polish only): http://fakty.interia.pl/fakty_dnia/news/prl-miala-bron-atomowa,738043 http://forum.gazeta.pl/forum/72,2.html?f=17007&w=56187539

This nuclear arsenal was under control of the soviets, however Poland during seventees HAD active and advanced nuclear programme. There are many articles that states Poland had active and advanced military nuclear research programme. Poland had three experimental nuclear reactors in Świerk near Warsaw, which were primarily research reactors, but were also meant to produce plutonium. One of the articles is here (Polish only): http://www.polityka.org.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=399&Itemid=38

No sources
This article has no english sources. I've not seen any reputable source suggest Poland had its own nuclear weapons. If Poland practiced delivering Soviet weapons, that would be like NATO nuclear weapons sharing where 7 NATO countries practiced delivering U.S. weapons. Rwendland 21:35, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I've just done a search with Google & Google News and cannot find any english sources that back-up the claim that Poland had its own nuclear weapons. If a reputable source is not offered soon, I will revert these claims (Verifiability). Rwendland 12:43, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually according to later informations there were 178 nuclear warheads in Poland. They were located in at least 3 bases in north-west Poland (Trzemeszno-Buszno, Brzeźnica Kolonia (google maps 53.429225,16.580257), Podborsko)
 * Bases were built about 1969-1970 and it is said that warheads were there for next 20 years.
 * Bases was under Soviet Union juristiction and with soviet personel
 * You can see some photos from base in Brzeźnica Kolonia here Brzeźnica click on the base plan to see photos


 * And here from Buszno base
 * Here is an article from one of the biggest Polish newspapers with few photos and scan of some official documents Dziennik


 * Unfortunately sources are in Polish - you know it was not a big secret and everyone here knows about that nuclear warheads from years but official confirmation was published today - hopefully some English sources will be available soon :)


 * You can use http://translate.google.com to translate sources to English if you want.


 * Tom :) --83.21.171.232 18:28, 26 January 2007 (UTC)


 * They were soviet warheads in soviet bases under the control of soviet soldiers. And Polish authorities probably didn't even know they were there. Mieciu K 00:34, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Unref fragment
I move here this entirely unsourced fragment till the sources will be provided:

Chemical weapons
Poland's chemical weapons production originates from before World War II. Prior to the outbreak of the war Poland had developed and stockpiled a large quantity of mustard gas, but never authorized its release during combat. After the war stockpiles of the agent were increased, and current estimates of remnants of these range from hundreds to thousands of tons. Other chemical agents that were stockpiled during the Cold War by Poland included lewisite, VX, sarin, soman, tabun, SN gas, CS gas, nitrogen mustard gas, phosgene, CN gas, BZ Gas, botulin, saxitoxin, and enterotoxin. After the fall of communism Poland greatly reduced its weapons stockpiles, and undertook a proactive program of disarmament. Poland ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention on 23 August 1995. In 2004 during the G8 Summit the Polish-Russian agreement in the sphere of chemical weapons destruction was reached. The chemical weapons agreement will assist Russia in disposing of its lewisite stockpiles.

Biological weapons
The extent of Poland's biological weapons production is unclear, although research was done by both the military and communist regime laboratories during the Cold War on various dangerous agents. Military research of biological agents included encephalitis, influenza, yellow fever, typhus, anthrax, brucellosis, cholera, plague, typhoid, dysentery, and limited access to smallpox through cooperation with the Soviet Union laboratories. Poland ratified the Biological Weapons Convention on 25 January 1973. After the fall of communism Poland undertook the destruction of its biological weapons, along with its general policy of disarmament. In 1997 a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) entitled "Conversion of Former Biological Weapons Facilities: Development and Production of Prophylactic, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Measures for Countering Diseases" was held at the "Frederic Joliot-Curie" Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene with Poland, Russia and Ukraine agreeing to the conventions of the worksho