Mysore N-plant on high alert
The Rare Materials Plant (RMP), India’s lone uranium enrichment plant, located at Rattehalli on the outskirts of Mysore, which holds the key to the success of the country’s long-term nuclear commitments, has been put on a state of high alert ever since terror module was busted in the state.
What has come as a shocker for the authorities is the fact that some Pakistan-based websites are indulging in negative propaganda about the Mysore facility, terming it as “dangerous Indian nuclear designs”.
Websites like www.defence.pk and www.siaset.pk speak about the RMP. One of the websites even talks of it as an expanding military nuclear plant in a “restive” region. Describing Mysore as a city which has witnessed Hindu-Christian clashes and a place where Hindu extremists are mushrooming, the website tries to give the impression that the facility can spell nuclear disaster for several nations that border India.
In view of this, the security at the facility has been reviewed after talks with central and state intelligence units, security agencies and the district police. When contacted, Mysore superintendent of police R. Dileep said: “In the wake of recent developments, security has been beefed up at all the nuclear sites in the State. We cannot reveal the extent of deployment. Not just RMP, security has been enhanced near dams, tourist destinations and crowded places as a precaution”.
Commissioned by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), the RMP is undergoing massive capacity-building as part of India’s gas centrifuge enrichment programme.
A new gas centrifuge plant is being built at the site to enhance the output of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU), a fuel used in naval reactors and thermo-nuclear weapons, at least by three times the current production levels in next couple of years.
Sources in the RMP said the new centrifuge plant was coming up on an area of 120 acres and was nearing completion. By 2016, India looks to produce at least 30,000 separative work units per year, a common measure of the output of a uranium enrichment plant.
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