United States Building Case Against Pakistan
| US: Pakistan boosting atom bomb ability September 19, 2008 presstv.ir | ||
Pakistan is close to completing a second plutonium-producing reactor, and is well into building a third, and these reactors could increase its ability to make atomic bombs, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said in a report, the local media highlighted Friday. A row of cooling towers indicated the second reactor was close to completion and could be ready to operate in a year's time, according to Washington group's report. The 10-page report estimated the reactors would run on power of “about 100-megawatts or more”, which could enable the two combined to yield plutonium for 8 to 10 atomic bombs a year. “Once completed, these reactors will increase several-fold Pakistan's ability to make weapons-grade plutonium (fuel),” it added. “When finished...will allow a significant increase in the quantity and quality of Pakistan's nuclear weapons,” the report noticed. “The wider implication ... (is that) there is a real risk this will exacerbate an India-Pakistan nuclear arms race and increase tensions more broadly between the two,” it reiterated. The report included commercial satellite images taken two weeks ago and in February and May showing construction of the second and third Khushab complexes.
The report also said India could easily match Pakistan's moves given its own ability to churn out plutonium in heavy water reactors and a fast-breeder reactor. The report comes two days after India deployed Russian made fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads in the troubled region of Kashmir as a warning to Pakistan. Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests in 1998 in response to those of India, becoming a nuclear-armed state. The regional arch-rivals have fought three wars, are both outside the global Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and have tested nuclear arms with Western technology imported ostensibly for atomic energy. But a 45-nation Nuclear Supplier Group approved a waiver to its rules this month allowing trade with India as part of a civilian nuclear cooperation pact it struck with the United States. The entire undertaking could erode the NPT, critics say. UN negotiations on such a treaty, which would ban production of nuclear weapons fuel, have made no headway for years because of the double standards practiced by the nuclear powers. JR/DT |
Posted by USHOSTAGE at 9/20/2008 2:18 AM 
Categories: Pakistan,SSP,uscourts.gov,AIPAC,Millat-e-Islamia,Tanzeem-e-Islami,FBI,Pentagon,CIA,Israel,sipah-e-sahaba,ATTORNEY,Mossad,Israr Ahmed,MI6,centcom,Federal Bureau of Investigation
Categories: Pakistan,SSP,uscourts.gov,AIPAC,Millat-e-Islamia,Tanzeem-e-Islami,FBI,Pentagon,CIA,Israel,sipah-e-sahaba,ATTORNEY,Mossad,Israr Ahmed,MI6,centcom,Federal Bureau of Investigation
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