Pakistan may be operating a second nuclear reactor under the country's nuclear weapons programme, according to an expert at the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.
Paul Brannan, Senior Analyst at ISIS, today told The Hindu that GoogleEarth satellite images showing steam distorting the view of some cooling tower fan blades at the second plutonium production reactor at Khushab “indicates to me that the reactor is in some state of initial operation such as a power start-up.”
Explaining that the steam was emerging from “mechanical drafting cooling towers” beside a visible, rectangular reactor structure, Mr. Brannan said that as the operation of the reactor progresses, he would expect to see more steam emerging from the adjacent MDCTs.
According to Mr. Brannan's report, in February 2010 Zia Mian of the International Panel on Fissile Materials said that Pakistan had completed construction of the second Khushab reactor. The statement by Mian cited a recent visit to the site by the Prime Minister where he reportedly congratulated engineers for “completing important projects.”
Third reactor
Mr. Brannan 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. “We have been following the construction of the second reactor in particular,” Mr. Brannan said, adding that “they had been expecting it to begin operation around this time.”
When asked whether his report of March 24 had received any reaction from the United States government he said, “I haven't heard a word.” However he added that in 2006 when ISIS showed the U.S. administration initial images of Khushab-II they had a “muted” reaction, with a statement to the effect that the U.S. called upon Pakistan no to use nuclear developments for military purposes.
Mr. Brannan however cautioned that given that “only 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.”
