Pakistan's nuclear expansion program under way, says experts

Washington, July 24 (UNI) Pakistan has begun building a powerful new reactor for producing enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year, a 20-fold increase from Pakistan's current capabilities, signalling a major expansion of the country's nuclear weapons capabilities and a potential escalation in the region's arms race, the Washington Post said today.

''This is evident from satellite photos of Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site. It showed what appears to be a partially completed heavy-water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium making more bombs weapons a year, the paper said taking into account a technical assessment by Washington-based nuclear experts.

The construction site is adjacent to Pakistan's only plutonium production reactor, a modest, 50-megawatt unit that began operating in 1998. By contrast, the dimensions of the new reactor suggest a capacity of 1,000 megawatts or more, according to the analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security(ISIS).

Pakistan is believed to have 30 to 50 uranium warheads, which tend to be heavier and more difficult than plutonium warheads to mount on missiles, the Post added.

''South Asia may be heading for a nuclear arms race that could lead to arsenals growing into the hundreds of nuclear weapons, or at minimum, vastly expanded stockpiles of military fissile material,'' the institute's nuclear experts David Albright and Paul Brannan concluded in the technical assessment, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post.

The assessment's key judgments were endorsed by two other independent nuclear experts who reviewed the commercially available satellite images, provided by Digital Globe, and supporting data.

In Pakistan, officials would not confirm or deny the report, but a senior Pakistani official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that a nuclear expansion was underway.

''Pakistan's nuclear program has matured. We're now consolidating the program with further expansions,''the official said.

''The expanded program includes some civilian nuclear power and some military components,'' he added.

The development raises fresh concerns about a decade-old rivalry between Pakistan and India. Both countries already possess dozens of nuclear warheads and a variety of missiles and other means for delivering them.

Pakistan, like India, has never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. One of its pioneering nuclear scientists, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who confessed two years ago to operating a network that supplied nuclear materials and know-how to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

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