Pakistan Bolstering Arsenal for Possibility of Nuclear Inferno

LOS ANGELES

While the U.S. government has cautioned both North Korea and Iran about expanding their nuclear weapons programs, Pakistan, a U.S. ally, is bolstering the destructiveness of its nuclear capability, satellite photos show..

Photos released show Pakistan has expanded two sites crucial to its nuclear program as part of an effort to bolster the destructive power of its atomic arsenal, said analysts at the Institute for Science and International Security, a U.S. arms control institute.

The commercial images reveal a major expansion of a chemical plantcomplex near Dera Ghazi Kahn that produces uranium hexalfuoride and uranium metal, materials used to produce nuclear weapons, according to an ISIS report.

At a site near Rawalpindi, photos suggest the Pakistanis "have added a second plutonium separation plant adjacent to the old one, and Pakistan in recent years also has been building two new plutonium production reactors, the report said.

The report also said that Pakistan's recent expansion activities indicate that the nation "is progressing in a strategic plan to improve the destructiveness and deliverability of its nuclear arsenal."

The expansion would enable Pakistan to build smaller, lighter plutonium-fission weapons and thermonuclear weapons that employ "plutonium as the nuclear trigger and enriched and natural enriched uranium in the secondary," it said.

The satellite images follow confirmation from the top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, on May 15 that Pakistan was expanding its nuclear arsenal.

Mullins said that Pakistan's current ability to deliver its nukes to targets includes jet aircraft and ballistic missiles.