By Zachary Keck
A new uranium enrichment facility is fueling concerns that India is intent on building thermonuclear weapons.
India may be embarking on a covert uranium enrichment project aimed at producing thermonuclear weapons, a number of sources have recently speculated.
This week, Reuters reported that analysts at IHS Jane’s believe that the uranium enrichment facility at the Indian Rare Metals Plant is able to produce about twice as much weapons-grade uranium as New Delhi will need to fuel its nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines in the future.
“Taking into account all the enriched uranium likely to be needed by the Indian nuclear submarine fleet, there is likely to be a significant excess,” said Matthew Clements, editor of IHS Jane’s Intelligence Review, according to Reuters. “One potential use of this would be for the development of thermonuclear weapons.”
The report goes to explain that it has made this assessment based on new commercial satellite images of the Mysore-based facility in southern India. These images revealed a new uranium hexafluoride plant that would significantly increase the uranium enrichment capacity of the plant. Specifically, India would be able to produce about 160 kilos of uranium enriched to 90 percent levels, about double the amount it needs to power its submarine fleet. The plant is expected to become operational sometime next year.
Read the full story at The Diplomat