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Khushab Tritium Production Facility

Other Name: N/A
Location: Khushab District, Punjab; Approximately 200km SW of Islamabad
Subordinate To: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)
Size: Approximately 1km² with a number of buildings
Facility Status: Operational

Pakistan reportedly produces tritium at the Khushab complex, near the Khushab-1 and Khushab-2 plutonium production reactors. Between 1985 and 1987, two German firms – Nuleartechnik GmbH (Neue Technologies GmbH) and Physikalisch-Technische Beratung – provided Pakistan with a tritium purification and production facility, tritium precursor materials, and 0.8g of pure tritium.[1] Tritium can be used to boost the explosive yield of nuclear weapons.[2]

Sources:
[1] Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks (International Institute for Strategic Studies: London, 2007); Craig S. Smith, "Roots of Pakistan Atomic Scandal Traced to Europe," The New York Times, 19 February 2004.
[2] "Global Fissile Material Report 2010: Appendix A," 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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