The Bush administration acknowledged yesterday that it had long known about Pakistan's plans to build a large plutonium-production reactor, but it said the <font color="Red">White House was working to dissuade Pakistan from using the plant to expand its nuclear arsenal</font><br />
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"We discourage military use of the facility," White House spokesman Tony Snow said of a powerful heavy-water reactor under construction at Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site in Punjab state".<br />
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The reactor, which reportedly will be capable of producing enough plutonium <b>for as many as 50 bombs each year</b>, was brought to light on Sunday by independent analysts who spotted the partially completed plant in commercial-satellite photos. Snow said the administration had "known of these plans for some time."<br />
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<font color="red">Construction of the reactor in Pakistan began as early as 2000, </font>and the plant is still several years from completion, according to an analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based nonprofit group that produces technical assessments of nuclear weapons facilities. Based on a study of satellite photos, <font color="red">the group estimated the new reactor to have an operating capacity of 1,000 megawatts thermal and an annual yield of at least 200 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium.</font>
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"We discourage military use of the facility," White House spokesman Tony Snow said of a powerful heavy-water reactor under construction at Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site in Punjab state".<br />
<br />
The reactor, which reportedly will be capable of producing enough plutonium <b>for as many as 50 bombs each year</b>, was brought to light on Sunday by independent analysts who spotted the partially completed plant in commercial-satellite photos. Snow said the administration had "known of these plans for some time."<br />
<br />
<font color="red">Construction of the reactor in Pakistan began as early as 2000, </font>and the plant is still several years from completion, according to an analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based nonprofit group that produces technical assessments of nuclear weapons facilities. Based on a study of satellite photos, <font color="red">the group estimated the new reactor to have an operating capacity of 1,000 megawatts thermal and an annual yield of at least 200 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium.</font>