Pak nuclear program is worlds fastest growing

Exclusive satellite imagery exposes a new nuclear facility in Khushab, Pakistan—which now has the fastest-growing nuclear program in the world. The facility was undetectable in satellite images take as recently as December 2009. Pictured directly above the circled area are two white boxes which are also nuclear reactors.

Even in the best of times, Pakistan’s nuclear-weapons program warrants alarm. But these are perilous days. At a moment of unprecedented misgiving between Washington and Islamabad, new evidence suggests that Pakistan’s nuclear program is barreling ahead at a furious clip.

According to new commercial-satellite imagery obtained exclusively by NEWSWEEK, Pakistan is aggressively accelerating construction at the Khushab nuclear site, about 140 miles south of Islamabad. The images, analysts say, prove Pakistan will soon have a fourth operational reactor, greatly expanding plutonium production for its nuclear-weapons program.

“The buildup is remarkable,” says Paul Brannan of the Institute for Science and International Security. “And that nobody in the U.S. or in the Pakistani government says anything about this—especially in this day and age—is perplexing.”

Unlike Iran, which has yet to produce highly enriched uranium, or North Korea, which has produced plutonium but still lacks any real weapons capability, Pakistan is significantly ramping up its nuclear-weapons program. Eric Edelman, undersecretary of defense in the George W. Bush administration, puts it bluntly: “You’re talking about Pakistan even potentially passing France at some point. That’s extraordinary.”

Pakistani officials say the buildup is a response to the threat from India, which is spending $50 billion over the next five years on its military. “But to say it’s just an issue between just India and Pakistan is divorced from reality,” says former senator Sam Nunn, who co-chairs the Nuclear Threat Initiative. “The U.S. and Soviet Union went through 40 years of the Cold War and came out every time from dangerous situations with lessons learned. Pakistan and India have gone through some dangerous times, and they have learned some lessons. But not all of them. Today, deterrence has fundamentally changed. The whole globe has a stake in this. It’s extremely dangerous.”

It’s dangerous because Pakistan is also stockpiling fissile material, or bomb fuel. Since Islamabad can mine uranium on its own territory and has decades of enrichment know-how—beginning with the work of nuclear scientist A. Q. Khan—the potential for production is significant.

Although the White House declined to comment, a senior U.S. congressional official who works on nuclear issues told NEWSWEEK that intelligence estimates suggest Pakistan has already developed enough fissile material to produce more than 100 warheads and manufacture between eight and 20 weapons a year. “There’s no question,” the official says, “it’s the fastest-growing program in the world.”




A Defense Department official told NEWSWEEK that the U.S. government is “confident that Pakistan has taken appropriate steps toward securing its nuclear arsenal.” But beyond palliatives, few in Washington want to openly discuss the nightmare scenario of terrorists getting hold of nuclear material or weapons. “The less that is said publicly, the better,” says Stephen Hadley, national-security adviser to President George W. Bush. “But don’t confuse the lack of public discussion for a lack of concern.”


Compiled with Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists

The bomb lends the Pakistanis a certain diplomatic insouciance. Nukes, after all, are a valuable political tool, ensuring continued economic aid from the United States and Europe. “Pakistan knows it can outstare” the West, says Pakistani nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy.

 

china 40 nukes ...?

 

link please ???

 

we had 200 ugly bad guys back in 2011 and thats according to westerners which is as you can see in case of china always downplay our abilities ...just think how many more we would be having now and even then ...and its always gonna be lot more than india at any given day ...

 

Recently?????

 

Having more nukes requires more maintenance and security, but there is also one big advantage: if any country thinks they can seize Pakistan's nukes, it makes their job that much harder.

 

Fourth Nuclear Reactor at Pakistan's Khushab Site - The Daily Beast

 

China has only 40 nukes?

Fourth Nuclear Reactor at Pakistan's Khushab Site - The Daily Beast

Although the article says nothing about being "advancer" than France.

 

passed britian in nukes? nice

 

Check the time brother first
May 15, 2011 1:00 AM EDT

Old news discussed several times

 

title created by the OP

 

Nodoubt world is after pakistan owing to its tech develoments in certain fields...

 

Whats the point having so many of these Nuclear weapons???
As far as i know to maintain and safeguard these weapons the government has to spend millions....
The nuclear weapons complex would need at least a billion each year...
If ur gonna use it for deterrence y increase its number???
In my opinion India should stop wasting money on developing these weapons...
I guess we have enough nuclear weapons....150 enough... period...
But china 40??? definitely an error....China has some where in 1000sssss.....

 

Read the link given its all admitted by westernes...Fourth Nuclear Reactor at Pakistan's Khushab Site - The Daily Beast

WORLD SPENDING ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS SURPASSES $1 TRILLION PER DECADE | Global Zero


All these articles say the same things dude ..first read them..before opening yr dumb mind...

 

correction .. pakistan will get past France in the number of nukes.. not in the nuclear technology as whole.