Last Updated: | March 1, 2011 |
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Other Name: | New Labs Reprocessing Facility |
Location: | Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology; Approximately 15km east of Rawalpindi |
Subordinate To: | Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) |
Size: | 100m² building |
Facility Status: | Operational |
Located at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH), the New Labs Reprocessing Facility reprocesses spent fuel from Pakistan's Khushab reactors. [1]
Using technology and plans acquired from French and Belgian firms, Pakistan began constructing the New Labs Reprocessing Facility in 1980. [2] While construction was completed by 1982, the facility remained idle until spent fuel from the unsafeguarded Khushab-1 reactor could be utilized in 2000. [3]
In 2009, open source satellite imagery analysis indicated that construction had begun on an expansion of the New Labs facility; beginning in 2002 and apparently completed in 2006. [4] Originally, the New Labs facility could separate between eight and ten kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium per year. [5] Its capacity since the alleged expansion is unknown.
Sources:
[1] Global Fissile Material Report 2010, Chapter 10, International Panel on Fissile Materials, December 2010, www.fissilematerials.org.
[2] Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks (International Institute for Strategic Studies: London, 2007).
[3] Global Fissile Material Report 2010, Chapter 10, International Panel on Fissile Materials, December 2010, www.fissilematerials.org.
[4] David Albright and Paul Brannan, "Pakistan Expanding Plutonium Separation Facility Near Rawalpindi," Institute for Science and International Security, 19 May 2009, www.isis-online.org.
[5] Mark Hibbs, "After 30 Years, PAEC Fulfills Munir Khan's Plutonium Ambition," Nucleonics Week, 15 June 2000.
Country Profile
Pakistan
This article provides an overview of Pakistan’s historical and current policies relating to nuclear, chemical, biological and missile proliferation.