Pakistan Nuclear Proliferation

[Gagan]

Just to recap here.
All of Pakistan's Nuclear related sites here:

Uranium Enrichment:
4 sites: Sihala, Golra Sharif, Kahuta and Wah
Sihala: 33°32'34.93"N, 73°10'58.01"E
Golra Sharif: Coordinates unavailble (Please add)
Kahuta: 33°37'20.36"N, 73°22'44.22"E (has older centrifuge designs, which China modified and upgraded for them)
New expansion of Kahuta Enrichment Plant: 33°36'47.54"N, 73°22'19.28"E
Gadwal (Wah): 33°48'37.43"N, 72°44'38.86"E

Gadwal Uranium Storage with 6 underground Bunkers: 33°49'10.57"N, 72°45'7.90"E

Air Weapons Complex: Manufactures electronics and components needed for N weapons, other air deliverable munitions: 33°50'56.27"N, 72°43'47.74"E

Pu Production reactors:
All built by China - none are safeguarded by IAEA
Khushab 1: 32° 1'15.18"N, 72°12'31.65"E
Khushab 2: 32° 0'31.70"N, 72°10'21.11"E
Khushab 3: 32° 0'35.89"N, 72°10'21.59"E
Khushab 4: 32° 0'4.95"N, 72°10'21.01"E
Heavy Water Plant
31°59'34.89"N, 72°11'54.79"E
Tritium Extraction plant
Under construction now
31°59'14.24"N, 72°10'12.46"E
Pu Reprocessing Plant
Chashma: 32°22'53.13"N, 71°26'26.41"E
Rawalpindi (PARR): Plutonium Seperation Plant: 33°38'59.65"N, 73°15'20.40"E
New Labs (Reprocessing Plant): 33°38'55.03"N, 73°15'23.62"E

Uranium Yellow Cake production:
Dera Ghazi Khan: Chemical Plant Complex: 29°59'57.54"N, 70°35'10.26"E
BC-1 Uranium Minining in Dera Ghazi Khan: 29°59'8.48"N, 70°35'13.41"E
Check out the Air Defence units in a ring around this site

Baghlachur Uranium Mines: 30° 3'44.52"N, 70°22'35.60"E
Slightly north is the Tumman Leghari Mines, and then the Dera Ghazi Khan Cement Company mines

Kala Shah Kaku near Muridke: Pilot uranium milling plant : 31°44'7.43"N, 74°16'4.03"E

[SSridhar]

Gagan, superb work.

[SSridhar]

Pakistan has to show pristine behaviour for normalisation of ties with NSG: Former US diplomat - PTI

WASHINGTON: Pakistan would have to exhibit "pristine behaviour" for a long time for normalisation of ties with the NSG, given its track record on nuclear proliferation, a former top US diplomat has said.

Nicholas Burns was responding to a question during a two- day conference here as to why a civil nuclear deal should not be given to Pakistan.

"Pakistan is going to have to exhibit pristine behaviour for a long time before the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) are ever going to try to normalise relations and nuclear trade with Pakistan," Burns told a Washington audience yesterday.

"I don't know how long, long is. I would say a decade or more, before the rest of the international community is going to have trust in Pakistan given what the state did. Assuming that the Pakistani state sponsored the AQ Khan network, which I believe the Pakistani state did, most people do," he said during the conference by South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council, a top American think-tank.

Burns, who is considered to be one of the architects of the India-US civilian nuclear deal during the previous Bush administration, was responding to questions from a Pakistani scholar as to why her country was facing nuclear apartheid and India has been merged into mainstream.

"When (then) secretary (of state) Condi Rice went to New Delhi in March 2005, she initiated it with prime minister (Manmohan Singh) saying the whole process, that led three years later to the passage of two American laws, would make an exception for India and allow the business of civil nuclear power plant construction for the supply of nuclear fuel that had been prohibited or under American sanctions that was the crux of the matter.

"We had observed that India had been a responsible owner, steward of its nuclear material. It had not proliferated on the black market and not sold it to other countries. That was the critical standard. We could not have gone... Secretary Rice and myself to the Congress Senate House and convinced them to hold two big difficult votes to take the sanctions off India if we could not point to the reality that he had been responsible," he said.

He said that in 2005, despite the fact that the US was at a very close working relationship with then president Pervez Musharraf, it couldn't make that argument about Pakistan.

"We were living with the consequences very negative for nuclear stability of the AQ Khan network," Burns said.

It is almost 13 years, Pakistan has worked a lot on the nuclear safety and security issues. These assurances has been given by the State Department as well and lots of reports have been published regarding the safety and security mechanisms, the Pakistani scholar from George Washington University said.

So still it is a life sentence or should Pakistan be given an opportunity to smooth its image, or behave like a more responsible nuclear weapons state, the student asked.

Burns said it was the right decision by the Bush administration to leave Pakistan out of the civil nuclear deal.

"The US took a very firm position in the George W Bush administration that we wanted to be strategic partners with India that we felt that India had been a responsible steward of its nuclear material, it had and still is.

"We embarked on a three-year negotiation that I led for the US to try to bring India into the non-proliferation system, make it part of the system put India's reactions under international observation and supervision and so that there will be transparency but allow the peaceful transfer of civil nuclear technology and the construction of nuclear power plants in India itself," Burns said.

"I'm convinced it was the right decision. And frankly with all due respect I'm convinced it was the right decision to leave Pakistan out because Pakistan of course has been a proliferator unlike India of its nuclear material in a very destructive way through the AQ Khan network more than a decade ago," he added.

[arun]

From Dawn:

US sanctions seven Pakistani firms for ‘nuclear trade’

Reuters on the same story of companies operating in the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan getting sanctioned by the US for proliferating nuclear technology:

U.S. sanctions Pakistani companies over nuclear trade

[chetak]

From Dawn:

US sanctions seven Pakistani firms for ‘nuclear trade’

Reuters on the same story of companies operating in the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan getting sanctioned by the US for proliferating nuclear technology:

U.S. sanctions Pakistani companies over nuclear trade

Pakistan has to show pristine behaviour for normalisation of ties with NSG: Former US diplomat -

bye bye NSG.

[chetak]

Gagan, superb work.

Perhaps, this could go on the first page of the paki thread, along with all the other items in the roll of (dis)honor??

[arun]

bye bye NSG.

IMO membership of the Nuclear Supplier Group was never the primary intent of the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic or its principal patron, the Peoples Republic of China or subsidiary patron Turkey. Talk of granting NSG membership to the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic was simply a gambit to scuttle Indian membership of the NSG by playing on the horror of other non-proliferation ayatollah type NSG member countries that NSG membership to India would result in the horror of NSG membership of the Islamic Republic.

[SSridhar]

More confirmation of Pakistani horizontal proliferation to Iran.

How Israel, in Dark of Night, Torched Its Way to Iran’s Nuclear Secrets - David E Sanger & Ronen Bergman, Washington Post

The Mossad agents moving in on a warehouse in a drab commercial district of Tehran knew exactly how much time they had to disable the alarms, break through two doors, cut through dozens of giant safes and get out of the city with a half-ton of secret materials: six hours and 29 minutes. . . . From what the Israelis showed to the reporters in a secure intelligence facility, a few things are clear. . . . Iran had foreign help, though Israeli officials held back any documents indicating where it came from. Much was clearly from Pakistan, but officials said other foreign experts were also involved — though they may not have been working for their governments. . . The Iranian papers repeatedly mention a specific substance used for making neutron initiators: uranium deuteride. Experts say it has no civil or military use other than making nuclear arms, and is known to have been used for that purpose by China and Pakistan. The initiator appears to be one of the key technologies that A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani nuclear expert who ran a black market in atomic goods, sold to Iran, North Korea and other nations.

[Amber G.]

[uranium deuteride] ..The initiator appears to be one of the key technologies that A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani nuclear expert who ran a black market in atomic goods, sold to Iran, North Korea and other nations.

Uranium deuteride brought an amusing smile..as I remember discussing it in BRF with famous Xerox khan photo (for high resolution you may like to see Shivji picture posted years earlier)..where I learnt that Paks/Chinese used UD3 -- vs more traditional polonium-beryllium (Po-Be).


(See upper right corner for UD3)

****
Interestingly from what I know, UD3's use was first discussed/published (in quite details) by Chinese scientists in proceedings of an APS (American Physical Society ) meeting in 80's... (The paper needs subscription and I will not put a link here for obvious reasons.

(Don't know how accurate the WP article - I have not read it yet - or documents are but mention of UD3 and it's relationship with Pakis is correct)

What is amazing that google search shows that the paper along with translation in farsi is available as ISIS site.. (again I am not putting a link but I can email the link if some brf expert is interested) ..along with short "analysis" for aam abdul's on how to practically understand it..

Wow.

[anupmisra]

More confirmation of Pakistani horizontal proliferation to Iran.

How Israel, in Dark of Night, Torched Its Way to Iran’s Nuclear Secrets - David E Sanger & Ronen Bergman, Washington Post

From what the Israelis showed to the reporters in a secure intelligence facility, a few things are clear. . . . Iran had foreign help, though Israeli officials held back any documents indicating where it came from. Much was clearly from Pakistan, but officials said other foreign experts were also involved

North Korea and China. It was a quadrilateral deal with Eyeran and chinisthan being the originators.

[ramana]

AmberG, With your academic background this UD3 thing can work? Where will they get D3?

[Amber G.]

AmberG, With your academic background this UD3 thing can work? Where will they get D3?

Sorry did not see before, a few points:
From what I know, US (and India and others excepts Pak and possibly China) do not use UD3 as initiators. Of course, exact details will be classified. US in earlier days (1945's) tried UD3 (or UT3) but it did not work as well as Po/Be so they used Po-Be..(there may be/are other methods too now BTW). If I understand/recall correctly the energy of neutron (for UD3) was in lower range compared to other methods.

Now I have not looked it up, and am talking from basic knowledge so I may be missing some technical points but UD3, Xerox Khan claimed it used (well documented by Xerox Khan in his books/articles) and I guess it should work -- any alpha particle with enough energy and any neutron rich low Z will pretty much do it -- Deuterium is a large and weakly bound nucleus...Uranium is much much cheaper than polonium. Lower energy can be solved by engineering design IMO.

Another point, I guess for Pak would be, UD3 initiators have a longer life (a decade or so, because half life is longer).. Po-Be may need to be refreshed every year or so (half life is, I think, about 200 days).

Anyway .. let me post a <link> if some one wants to look up further details.

As to manufacturing UD3 for pak is no big deal.
***

[Amber G.]

One aspect of UD3 and Pakistan many do not realize because it is not taught in scientific world - more to do with Pakistan than neutron initiators --

Man who authorized the testing and made Pakistan a nuclear power is now imprisoned in Adiala jail.

[arun]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the proliferation of nuclear weapon technology by the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

'Proliferation of Pakistani N-programme a threat for US'

Highlights
Pompeo: Pakistan must take further action against terrorists
Proliferation of Pak nuclear programme is a threat to US
Pompeo alleged that Pakistan providing safe havens to terrorists

WASHINGTON: The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has said that there are five big issues that threaten the American security and one of them is proliferation of Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

Counting the five threats the US is facing, while giving an interview to an American radio broadcaster, the US secretary of state said: ““It's the threat that we've talked about today from China, the nuclear proliferation risk that extends from Pakistan, through all those folks who have these weapon systems places like North Korea where they can sell these weapons. I think I'm at five already but I could give you a whole list of threats that I think we can effect change on in a way that will really make a difference for the security of the American people.”

He blamed Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists, adding that no other administration but the current administration had taken some action against Pakistan on the issue. He said he personally took terrorism very seriously because he had lost a lot of friends in the war against terror.

“Well we've taken actions … against Pakistan that no other administration has taken. ... We need Pakistan to do more. They have to stop harboring this terror. We saw what happened with India. The conflict that rose there as a result of terrorist that departed from Pakistan. ... They need to stop harboring terrorists.”

Pompeo said the US Administration has learnt a lot from the 9/11 terror attack and put pressure on the Pakistan government to do more.

Commenting on the recent conflict between Pakistan and India, the secretary said it was initiated because of the cross-border terrorism. He emphasised on Pakistan to take further action against such terrorists and stop providing alleged safe havens to them. ………………….

From here:

'Proliferation of Pakistani N-programme a threat for US'


Excerpt from the interview where Secretary Pompeo identified nuclear proliferation by the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan as one of the Top 5 threats facing the US:

Interview With Brian Kilmeade of Fox and Friends

Interview
Michael R. Pompeo
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
March 14, 2019 …………………………….

QUESTION: Everyone’s talking about global warming and the threat to this country. When you look at the top five threats to this nation, where do you rank global warming or climate change?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, I wouldn’t put it in the top five.

QUESTION: Why?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Because I can count to five that get you to things that present more risk to the people I used to represent in Kansas and citizens all across America, whether it’s the threat that we’ve talked about today from China, the nuclear proliferation risk that extends from Pakistan, through all those folks who have these weapon systems – places like North Korea where they can sell these weapons. I think I’m at five already, but I could give you a whole list of threats that I think we can effect change on in a way that will really make a difference for the security of the American people. ………………………

From US State Department Website:

Interview With Brian Kilmeade of Fox and Friends

[ramana]

Interesting interview right after Balakot strike.

[arun]

Following US Secretary of States classification of the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic’s nuclear program as a top 5 threats to the US, question at the US State Department Press Breifing on how the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is a top threat to the US. Meandering answer with no mention of JDAM aka Jihadi Directed Atomic Munition …

Department Press Briefing - March 26, 2019
Robert Palladino
Deputy Spokesperson
Department Press Briefing
Washington, DC
March 26, 2019 …………………….

QUESTION: Pakistan. Can you take one question on Pakistan too, please?

MR PALLADINO: A question on Pakistan. Sure.

QUESTION: Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Sir, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that there are five big issues that threaten the American security and one of them is Pakistan’s nuclear program. So can you a little bit elaborate that how Pakistan’s nuclear program is a threat to America?

MR PALLADINO: Nuclear proliferation is a – one of the very first national security concerns articulated in our National Security Strategy. It’s at the very top of the list. So that absolutely remains something that this administration thinks about often, because the level of – the level, the impact, of what could happen is simply so great. So that remains at the very top of our national security considerations.

As far as Pakistan itself, the Secretary has also emphasized that – the need to deliver outcomes and to build confidence and trust between our two nations, and we do want to see a prosperous Pakistan that contributes positively towards regional stability and security. And I’ll stop there.

From US State Department website here:

Department Press Briefing - March 26, 2019

[Vips]

Pakistan's nuclear proliferation in news again amid Turkey's quest for nukes.

Pakistan's nuclear proliferation is once again coming under scrutiny following Turkey's reported quest for nuclear weapons. Buried for nearly 15 years after Pakistan's nuclear smuggler AQ Khan confessed to nuclear smuggling and illicit exports, the issue has resurfaced in recent days after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reported conveying his desire for Turkey to go nuclear at a party convention.

"Some countries have missiles with nuclear warheads … (But the West insists) we can't have them. This, I cannot accept," Erdogan was reported telling his party faithful in remarks that have caused a stir in Washington. "If the United States could not prevent the Turkish leader from routing its Kurdish allies, how can it stop him from building a nuclear weapon or following Iran in gathering the technology to do so?" the New York Times asked in a report on Monday, pointing out that "already Turkey has the makings of a bomb program: uranium deposits and research reactors - and mysterious ties to the nuclear world's most famous black marketeer, Abdul Qadeer Khan of Pakistan."

According to "Nuclear Black Markets", a study of the Khan network by the London think-tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, companies in Turkey aided AQ Khan's covert effort by importing materials from Europe, making centrifuge parts and shipping finished products to customers, the report said. A riddle to this day is whether the Khan network had a fourth customer besides Iran, Libya and North Korea, the report wondered, pointing to intelligence reports that believe Turkey could possess "a considerable number of centrifuges of unknown origin" by virtue of being Khan's fourth customer. Khan's nuclear network extended to Malaysia too.

Pakistan got away with its nuclear proliferation in 2004-2005 because of perceived need by the Bush administration of Islamabad's help and the transit facility Pakistan offered in Washington's war on terror in Afghanistan. The country was caught pants down proliferating nuclear blueprints; but Khan was made to confess on TV and asked to fall on the sword by claiming he did it on his own accord without government sanction, even though it was apparent that he had used government machinery and facilities with the knowledge and concurrence of the Pakistani establishment.

Khan was subsequently confined to the doghouse (and virtually under house arrest) as Pakistan's then military ruler Pervez Musharraf sought to control the damage and rescue the country from infamy and punitive sanctions. He surfaced recently though, and in fact, in a recent public appearance at the University of Karachi, he spoke of Turkey and Malaysia as countries worth of being emulated by Pakistan.

Bereft of friends and allies in the global arena because of its support for terrorism as chronicled by global bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)+ , Pakistan has lately latched on to the two countries to build an Islamist coalition. They were the only two countries that have stood up for Islamabad in recent weeks with even China, Pakistan's long time patron in its effort to constrain India, leery of Pakistan's embrace of extremism.

Currently headed by China, the recently concluded meeting of FATF asked Pakistan to "do more"+ in addressing the issue of terrorism financing while keeping it in a grey list. Amid much mirth in the social media, Pakistani leaders celebrated remaining on the grey list as a victory, claiming India's effort to put it in a blacklist had failed.

Khan similarly generated laughter when he spoke recently at a different event about the importance of research to students in Pakistan. Described in the Pakistan media has a "nuclear scientist", Khan is actually a metallurgist who has no significant research work to his name. From most accounts, his contribution to Pakistan's nuclear programme came via stealing blueprints of centrifuge technology from a Dutch firm he worked in, an effort that earned him the epithet "nuclear smuggler" in the chronicles of nuclear proliferation.

Whether Turkey has been a recipient of Khan's (and Pakistan's) nuclear largesse is something that has triggered interest among Washington's non-proliferation brigade that had hitherto not expressed much interest in the matter since Ankara - unlike Libya, Iran, and North Korea - was a Nato ally.

In fact, the NYT story wondered why Turkey would even conceivably want such arms, particularly since they already host an estimated 50 US nuclear weapons at Incirlik Air Base, while suggesting that with its advanced civilian nuclear programme and ties to Pakistan's AQ Khan, Ankara "could break out in relatively short order".

[Vips]

‘Sharp increase’ in Pakistan’s efforts to illegally get N-tech: Berlin.

The German government believes there has been a “sharp increase” in Pakistan’s activities in recent years to illegally procure technology used in nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons, according to official documents.

The German government conveyed this information in an official reply earlier this month to a question from several lawmakers of die Linke (Left Party), including Sevim Dagdelen, the deputy leader of the party’s parliamentary group.

The government’s reply dovetails with concerns expressed by Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), the German domestic intelligence service, which said in a 2018 report on proliferation-related matters that there had been a “massive increase” in Pakistan’s attempts to clandestinely procure nuclear goods in Germany and other Western countries.

In its reply, the German government said that since 2010, there had been “some quantitative changes” in illegal procurement efforts by states such as Iran, whose activities had witnessed a significant reduction since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) came into force in January 2016.

“By contrast, Pakistan has seen a sharp increase in proliferation-relevant procurement activities in recent years,” the government said in its reply in German, adding “no quantitative change” was seen with regard to North Korea and Syria.

The BfV, in its July 2018 report Proliferation – Wir haben verantwortung (Proliferation – We have a responsibility), had said: “There has been a massive increase in Pakistani procurement attempts both in Germany and in numerous other Western countries. The main focus is on goods that can be used in the field of nuclear technology. Accordingly, intensive efforts are to be expected in the future as well.”

The intelligence agency’s report had also noted that Pakistan hadn’t signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and associated security agreements, and that in addition to a civilian nuclear programme, it also had an “extensive military nuclear and carrier technology programme directed against the ‘arch-enemy’ India”.

Pakistan currently has 130 to 140 nuclear weapons and plans to increase this number to 250 atomic warheads by 2025, the report added.

She said, “Therefore, the federal government must end arms supplies to Pakistan, especially with regard to the Kashmir conflict.”

In 2016, a report by experts at King’s College of London had said that Pakistan should be kept out of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) because of its use of front companies and other deceptive methods to obtain dual-use goods for its nuclear programme.

The report, prepared by Project Alpha of the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King’s College, said Pakistan’s “deliberate strategy of using deceptive methods to obtain dual-use goods” had undermined its claim to be a responsible actor in the non-proliferation domain.