Pakistan building major nuclear reactor – Report

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Pakistan is building a new powerful nuclear reactor for plutonium production, The Washington Post reported, quoting independent analysts.

"Satellite photos of Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site show what appears to be a partially completed heavy-water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year, a 20-fold increase from Pakistan's current capabilities," the Post said on Monday, citing a technical assessment by Washington-based nuclear experts.

According to the Post, the new nuclear plant is next to Pakistan's only plutonium production reactor, a 50-megawatt unit that began operating in 1998.

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.

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

If the assessment is true, it will signal Pakistan’s determination to expand its nuclear weapons capabilities, correspondents say.

Analysts also say the move could trigger a new escalation in the region's arms race.

"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 David Albright and Paul Brannan concluded in the technical assessment, a copy of which was provided to the Post.

The assessment's findings were backed by two other independent nuclear experts who reviewed the commercially available satellite images and supporting data, the newspaper said.

* Nuclear expansion

Islamabad didn’t confirm or deny the report, the Post said, but a top Pakistani official acknowledged that a nuclear expansion was underway.

"Pakistan's nuclear program has matured. We're now consolidating the program with further expansions," the official, who demanded anonymity, was quoted as saying.

The expanded program includes "some civilian nuclear power and some military components," he said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam defended Pakistan, saying that it opposes a nuclear arms race in South Asia.

"This ought to be no revelation to anyone because Pakistan is a nuclear weapon state." Aslam said.

She also said that Pakistan wasn’t the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into South Asia, referring to archrival India, with whom Pakistan has fought three wars with since 1947.

"We were not the first to test nuclear weapons in this region and that remains our position," Aslam said. "We do not want an arms race in this region."

Pakistan and India have never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Post report comes as the U.S. Congress prepares to take up a nuclear cooperation deal between the Bush administration and India under which New Delhi would get access to sensitive U.S. nuclear technology in exchange for more safeguards over its civilian nuclear reactors.

AlJazeera