ISIS Reports
Analysis of IKONOS Imagery of the Newly-Identified Heavy Water Plant at Khushab, Pakistan
March 16, 2000
- The facility has characteristics similar to many known heavy water plants.
- It likely uses a standard process to produce heavy water with about 15% deuterium (D), then distills it to reactor grade heavy water (>99.7% D). This is similar to the Kota plant in India.
- The central block of the plant, which contains the large buildings, several smaller buildings, and a tall scaffolding (may contain packed columns), could be the part of the plant used for final purification of the D2O by distillation.
- The northern block, containing at least four tall columns, may contain a dual-temperature water-hydrogen sulfide exchange process.
- Farther north, there is likely warehousing of chemicals and storage of drums.
- We originally believed that there were three cooling towers in the western portion of the site. Based on a re-analysis, the three objects appear to be tanks with stirrers, possibly used to pre-treat or purify water.
- Based on a comparison to heavy water plants in other countries, Pakistan's heavy water plant has an estimated production capacity of 50-100 tonnes* of heavy water per year. This capacity is more than sufficient to meet the heavy water requirements of the nearby reactor.
Images
The newly-identified heavy water plant at the Khushab site in Pakistan
Comparison of the Khushab heavy water plant and the Kota plant in India
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