The Institute for Science and International Security has published the first ever satellite photograph of India’s Rattehalli Rare Materials Plant (RMP)—a gas centrifuge facility with several hundred subcritical centrifuge rotor assemblies operating at less 3 SWU/year per machine—located near Mysore in Karnataka state.
The facility has reportedly been upgraded at least once since that estimate. Albright and Hinderstein will release an analysis of India’s program in the coming weeks.
The best reports about Rattehalli are available from the nuclear trade press:
- Mark Hibbs, “India to Equip Centrifuge Plant with Improved Rotor Assemblies,” Nuclear Fuel 22:24 (1 December 1997) 7
- Mark Hibbs, “India and Pakistan Fail To Include New SWU Plants on Exchanged Lists,” Nuclear Fuel 17:7 (30 March 1992) 6.
- Mark Hibbs, “Second Indian Enrichment Facility Using Centrifuges is Operational,” Nucleonics Week 33:13 (26 March 1992) 9.
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How does this tie in with Project SeaBird and Project Kiaga…. or is there a tie in at all ?? :)-