Word: atomization
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...dealings and espionage coups that have left trails of suspicion leading inexorably back to Kahuta. All those James Bond operations have conveyed the same unsettling message: even though the government of President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq firmly denies it, Pakistan appears to be developing the capacity to build an atom bomb...
...Moscow on an official visit last week, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi charged that Pakistan's development of an atom bomb was "very close" to fruition. Earlier this month, the Indian leader had affirmed that such an achievement by his country's chief regional rival "will completely change the present military balance on the subcontinent. At no cost will we allow our integrity and security to be compromised." In 1974, India shocked the world with a "peaceful" underground nuclear explosion in the Rajasthan Des- ert; Gandhi's pronouncements hold out the threat that India might resume testing, perhaps even begin...
FOOTNOTE: *Uranium 235 (U-235) and plutonium 239 (Pu-239) are the radioactive elements used in atom bombs. Uranium enrichment is the process by which the concentration of U-235 in natural uranium is increased, eventually to weapons-grade material. From 33 to 55 lbs. of U-235 at roughly 93% purity can be used in a Hiroshima-size bomb. Reprocessing is the chemical procedure for extracting Pu-239 from the spent uranium fuel of nuclear reactors, where the plutonium is produced as a waste product. A breeder reactor uses plutonium as fuel rather than uranium: by atomic fission, additional...
Some of the phantoms are widely assumed to have atom bombs already or to be close to that goal. The major example of that ambiguous status known as having "a bomb in the basement" is Israel. The Israelis probably developed an atomic weapon as early as 1968, in all likelihood using reprocessed plutonium from their top-secret, French-built research reactor at Dimona, in the Negev desert. By 1973, Israel was believed to possess at least 13 nuclear weapons...
...Canadian-built commercial nuclear reactor fueled by natural uranium. At about the same time, Bhutto entered negotiations with France for a commercial-scale plutonium- reprocessing plant. It would be capable of extracting from spent fuel more than 300 lbs. of plutonium annually, enough for as many as 30 atom bombs and far more than necessary for Pakistan's peaceful nuclear program...