LONDON, June 9: Nuclear experts here have said that Pakistan's nuclear explosions on May 28 observed only one signal measuring 4.6 on the Richter Scale casting doubts over premier Nawaz Sharif's claims of having conducted five tests.For the first time detailing the fallout of Islamabad's nuclear tests, Frank Barnaby of the Jane Information Service said the measurements of the explosions indicated that the total explosive yield was only seven to eight kiloton and not 40 to 45 kiloton as claimed by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb.
Jane's said the sixth explosion on May 30 had registered 4.3 on the Richter Scale equivalent to only two to three kiloton and claimed there were wide discrepancies in Pakistan's claims as country's scientists had said the May 30 explosion was a test of boosted fission-device in which tritium gas is led into a core of the weapon as it explodes.
``This type of device should have produced a yield of about 25 kiloton,'' Branaby said in the latest issue ofJane's Defence Weekly to hit the stands tomorrow. According to him discrepancy might have been also due to the fact that tests were carried out in a horizontal tunnel rather than an average vertical shaft. Baranby said the tests by Pakistan from all probability appeared to be of a ``nuclear weapon with a scaled down yield''.
The weekly said there was a `clear discrepancy' in data collected by western nuclear experts and claims made by Islamabad. It quoted Pakistani officials as saying that five tests were carried out on May 28 over a period of five to six hours. ``The Pakistani tests probably included an ordinary nuclear fission weapon, a slightly boosted nuclear fission weapon and sub-critical tests, which do not produce a fission chain reaction intended to investigate the behaviour of highly enriched uranium under compression and to provide data for computer simulation,'' Baranaby said.
Jane's said though Pakistan had kept its nuke programme highly secret a realistic estimate of amount of High EnrichedUranium (HEU) so far produced by Islamabad could be anything between 350 to 400 kilograms, enough to allow it to fabricate 20 or more nuclear weapons. Baranaby said Pakistan has two nuclear enrichment plants - one at Kahuta and another a new one at Golra - capable of producing another 30 kgs or so of HEU a year, enough for two nuclear bombs. The weekly said Islamabad was now making efforts to step up production of enriched uranium and also constructing a nuclear reactor.
US not sure about Islamabad's M-11s
WASHINGTON: The United States is yet to "determine" if Pakistan received M-11 missiles from China despite widespread belief that Beijing has been aiding Islamabad's nuclear and missile programmes. "The position of the US government is that we have not determined that Pakistan has received M-11 missiles from China," State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters. Rubin made the comment when reminded yesterday that reporters at Pentagon had been told that Pakistan had M-11s and mighthave nuclear warheads on them, and that US law required imposition of sanctions on China for supplying these missiles. "We have serious concerns about transfers and we are watching these areas very closely, but as a government we have not made that determination," he said. Initial Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports had said there were 30 M-11s with Pakistan but CIA and the US air force counter proliferation centre later revised the figure to "less than 50".Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
