New Laboratories Reprocessing Facility
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A backgrounder
OTHER NAME: New Labs Reprocessing Facility
LOCATION: Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology; Approximately 15km east of Rawalpindi
SUBORDINATE TO: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)
SIZE: 100m² building
FACILITY STATUS: Operational
Located at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH), the New Labs Reprocessing Facility reprocesses spent fuel from Pakistan's Khushab reactors.
Using technology and plans acquired from French and Belgian firms, Pakistan began constructing the New Labs Reprocessing Facility in 1980. While construction was completed by 1982, the facility remained idle until spent fuel from the unsafeguarded Khushab-1 reactor could be utilized in 2000.
In 2009, open source satellite imagery analysis indicated that construction had begun on an expansion of the New Labs facility; beginning in 2002 and apparently completed in 2006. Originally, the New Labs facility could separate between eight and ten kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium per year. Its capacity since the alleged expansion is unknown.
