Pakistan doubling nuclear-bomb capacity: Reports

[Neo]

Pakistan doubling nuclear-bomb capacity: Reports

NDTV Correspondent, Friday March 26, 2010, New Delhi

As the Obama Administration concluded its two-day strategic dialogue with Pakistan, a report prepared by the Washington based Institute for Science and international security says Islamabad may be operating a second nuclear reactor under the country's nuclear weapons programme.

The report cites GoogleEarth satellite images showing steam distorting the view of some cooling tower fan blades at the second plutonium production reactor at Khushab, which indicates that the reactor is in some state of initial operation such as a power start-up.

Only a few nations in the world have nuclear production capability, the start-up operation of the second Khushab reactor, leading to a possible doubling of plutonium output in Pakistan, is significant.

The report also said that Pakistan had started constructing the Khushab-II reactor back in 2002 and in 2007 construction activity for a third reactor was noticed in satellite images.

"For many years all Pakistan had was its uranium enrichment programme. Sometime in 2002, Pakistan began building a second reactor and then again sometime around 2006-07, Pakistan began building a third reactor at Khushabh. So what we are seeing here is a really massive expansion of Pakistan's plutonium production programme. And the issue here is that Pakistan does not really need a new reactor as it has a unranium enrichment programme and a plutonium production programme," said Paul Brannan, Senior Analyst, ISIS, Washington, DC.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/*****...ctor-18421.php

[Neo]

Great job, this is the best answer to nuclear apartheid!
We should not depend on foreign aid in nuclear field but rely on our own scientists to build bigger and better designs. If we can build the 50MW Khushab Reactor ingeniously, we can build bigger ones in future!

[Zaki]

Originally Posted by Neo

Great job, this is the best answer to nuclear apartheid!
We should not depend on foreign aid in nuclear field but rely on our own scientists to build bigger and better designs. If we can build the 50MW Khushab Reactor ingeniously, we can build bigger ones in future!

thats what i wonder i always

we managed to design 50MW reactor back in 1980s and this is 2010 about 20-25 years has passed and why can't we design a little bigger reactor now?

Excellent news but i wonder they are talking about Chashma Nuclear Power Plant 2 (being constructed by China and was due to be operational this year)

[Neo]

Chashma and Khushab are two different kind of reactors; the former is a civil reactor and uses uranium where as the latter is plutonium based and runs at heavy water. Its a military plant but can be converted to produce elctricity.