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Khushab-1

Other Name: N/A
Location: Khushab District, Punjab; Approximately 200km SW of Islamabad
Subordinate To: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)
Size: 40-50MW
Facility Status: Operational

Khushab-1 is a 40-50MW plutonium production reactor, moderated by heavy water and utilizing natural uranium fuel. [1] Construction of Khushab-1—reportedly with Chinese assistance—began in 1987, and the reactor commenced operations in 1998. [2] Pakistan officially announced the operations at Khushab-1 prior to its nuclear weapons tests. [3]

Spent fuel from Khushab-1 is reprocessed at the New Labs Facility near Rawalpindi, and Pakistan has likely been accumulating weapons-grade plutonium since 2000. Depending on its capacity, Khushab-1 had produced approximately 60 to 130 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium as of 2010. [4] Assuming that 8kg of plutonium are needed to produce one nuclear weapon, Pakistan could have had sufficient plutonium for between 7 and 16 nuclear weapons from Khushab-1 production alone as of 2010. The facility is not under IAEA safeguards.

Sources:
[1] Global Fissile Material Report 2010, Chapter 10, International Panel on Fissile Materials, December 2010, www.fissilematerials.org.
[2] Mark Hibbs, "Bhutto May Finish Plutonium Reactor Without Agreement on Fissile Stocks," Nucleonics Week, 6 October 1994.
[3] "Analysis of IKONOS Imagery of the Plutonium Production Reactor at Khushab, Pakistan," Institute for Science and International Security, 16 March 2000, www.isis-online.org.
[4] Global Fissile Material Report 2010, Chapter 10, International Panel on Fissile Materials, December 2010, www.fissilematerials.org.

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This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, or agents. Copyright © 2011 by MIIS.

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