Pakistan appears to be expanding nuclear site: report

Institute for Science and International Security think-tank says new building at Khushab early in its construction.

VIENNA: Pakistan appears to be building a fourth military nuclear reactor, signaling its determination to produce more plutonium for atomic weapons, a US-based think-tank said.

The report came as India and Pakistan agreed to resume peace talks that were broken off by New Delhi after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a think-tank specialising in nuclear proliferation issues, said it had obtained commercial satellite images from mid-January.

They showed "what appears to be a fourth reactor under construction at the Khushab nuclear site," ISIS experts David Albright and Paul Brannan said in the Feb. 9 report.

"Pakistan is determined to produce considerably more plutonium for nuclear weapons," they wrote.

Pakistan's mission to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, was not immediately available for comment.

Vapour seen

ISIS published images which it said showed a building relatively early in its construction at Khushab. It added that "the footprint for the building is similarly sized to that of the second and third Khushab reactors."

In imagery from late 2009, vapour could be seen rising from the second reactor's cooling tower fan blades, indicating it was at least at some stage of initial operation, ISIS said.

"Vapour can again be seen rising from some of the second reactor's cooling towers in the January 15, 2011 imagery, though none can be seen yet over the third reactor's cooling towers."

In 1998, Pakistan commissioned the first Khushab research reactor, which is capable of yielding 10-15 kg of weapons-grade plutonium annually.

Pakistan, which embarked on a nuclear weapon programme in the early 1970s, conducted nuclear tests in May 1998, shortly after India conducted its own weapon tests. Like India, Pakistan is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India is believed to hold about 100 warheads and Pakistan 70 to 80, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association.