New reactor can be used for military purposes: Pak

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has acknowledged that a major new Pakistani plutonium nuclear reactor under construction at Khushab could be used for 'military purposes', but claimed it will not lead to a massive increase in the country's nuclear arsenal.

This "first official acknowledgment that the heavy-water reactor will bring at least some increase in Pakistan's military nuclear capability at a time of heightened fears of a South Asia arms race with rival India" came from Pakistan's new ambassador in an interview with the Washington Times on Friday.

"The plutonium may certainly be used for military purposes, but it is simply not the case that it will increase our capability X-fold," Mahmud Ali Durrani, a former top defence adviser to the Pakistani president and chairman of the country's military industrial complex for much of the 1990s, told the daily.

He declined to give production figures for the new plant, but said it would be far less powerful than the 1,000-MW estimate given last month by the Institute for Science and International Security. Pakistan's current reactor, located near the new one, is a 50-MW unit completed in 1998.

"I would love it to be 1,000 MW, because we certainly have the power needs," he joked dismissing the private Washington-based think tank's report as "grossly exaggerated". He denied the new plant could produce enough weapons-grade plutonium to boost the country's production from an estimated two bombs a year to as many as 50.

Durrani's interview came just a day after the New York Times suggested that American officials are seeking to dispute the think tank's finding about Khushab's potential to make 50 nuclear warheads a year to mute criticism of a key ally.

The Khushab site has sparked international concerns as the US and India move to ratify a nuclear cooperation deal that critics warn could allow India to greatly accelerate its own military nuclear programme, the Washington Times noted.

Durrani said Pakistan had conveyed its "deep concerns" about the India-US nuclear accord to the Bush administration, but acknowledged it was unlikely the deal could be derailed.