Pakistan said building third nuclear reactor

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2007/June/subcontinent_June831.xml§ion=subcontinent

WASHINGTON - Pakistan appears to be building a third plutonium production reactor at its Khushab nuclear site in order to build more powerful atomic bombs, a research group said on Thursday.

The construction was seen on commercial satellite imagery, according to the Institute for Science and International Security, or ISIS. It comes at a time when relations with a key US ally in the anti-terror war are already under some strain.

“Pakistan may have concluded that it needs to improve the quality of its nuclear arsenal and build a new generation of lighter, more powerful weapons,” said ISIS President David Albright and researcher Paul Brannen, in an analysis.

They said the activity at Khushab and also at a plutonium separation facility at Chasma, 50 miles (80 km) west of Khushab, “should be viewed as a sign of an accelerated nuclear arms race” between Pakistan and its nuclear-armed adversary, India. snip

Rep. Edward Markey, a senior member of the US House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee and the co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Non-Proliferation, said the news would cause him to redoubled efforts to halt the sale of nuclear-capable F-16 aircraft to Pakistan.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. We blessed India's program.

Consequently Pakistan was going to keep pushing theirs forward. NPT is only selectively enforced. Our outrage is directed at Iranians and North Koreans, we are blind to the activities of India, Pakistan, Israel and most likely Saudi Arabia. India and Pakistan, if our concern were really that these devices would get used, came very close to a nuclear exchange a few years ago, but never mind that.