Khushab Nuclear Complex: Difference between revisions
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| locale = [[Khushab District]], [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]] |
| locale = [[Khushab District]], [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]] |
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| lat_d = 32 |
| lat_d = 32 |
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|lat_m = |
|lat_m = 0 |
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|lat_s = |
|lat_s = 19.56 |
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|lat_NS = N |
|lat_NS = N |
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| long_d = 72 |
| long_d = 72 |
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|long_m = |
|long_m = 11 |
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|long_s = |
|long_s = 19.92 |
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|long_EW = E |
|long_EW = E |
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| coordinates_type = type:landmark |
| coordinates_type = type:landmark |
Revision as of 06:02, 15 February 2011
Khushab Nuclear Complex | |
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Country | Pakistan |
Coordinates | 30°06′26″N 71°10′01″E / 30.107268°N 71.166904°E |
Status | Operating |
Commission date | Unit 1: 1998, Unit 2: 2010 |
Operator | Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) |
Khushab Nuclear Complex is a plutonium production nuclear reactor and heavy water complex situated 30 km south of the town of Jauharabad in Khushab District, Punjab, Pakistan.
The heavy water and natural uranium reactors at Khushab are a central element of Pakistan's program to produce plutonium and tritium for use in compact nuclear warheads. Khushab Nuclear Complex, like that at Kahuta, is not subject to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections.
The two currently operating reactors have capacities variously reported at between 40 MWt to 50 MWt, and as high as 70 MWt. They are conservatively estimated to be capable of producing 22 kg of weapons grade plutonium annually.[1]
The first was commissioned in March 1996. This was Pakistan's first indigenous nuclear reactor. Construction was begun in 1986 by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) chairman Munir Ahmad Khan who appointed Pakistani nuclear engineer Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood as the Project-Director.[2]According to a Pakistani press report this reactor began operating in early 1998.[3]
Onsite construction work on the second unit began around 2001 or 2002. In February 2010 Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and senior military officers attended a ceremony at the Khushab complex for what is believed to be the completion of the second reactor.[1]
A third and a fourth[4] reactor and ancillary buildings are observed to be under construction at the Khushab site, although details have not been confirmed by the Pakistani government. The third unit is nearly complete as of 2010. Judging by external appearance the two new reactors are similar or identical to the second in design.[5] Heavy water production and nuclear reprocessing facilities are also being expanded.
See also
References
- ^ a b Pakistan may have completed new plutonium production reactor, Khushab-II
- ^ MA Chaudhri, "Pakistan's Nuclear History: Separating Myth from Reality," Defence Journal, May, 2006.
- ^ "Pakistan's Indigenous Nuclear Reactor Starts Up," Islamabad The Nation, April 13, 1998
- ^ ISIS Online Jan 15 2011
- ^ Asian Defence