Khan Research Laboratories

The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories,[2][note 1] (Urdu: خان تجربہ گاہ و مراکز تحقیق‎) or KRL for short, is a federally funded, multi-program national research institute and national laboratory site primarily dedicated to uranium enrichment, supercomputing and fluid mechanics. It is managed by the Ministry of Energy for the Government of Pakistan.[3] The laboratory is located in Kahuta, a short distance north-east of Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.[3][4]

Khan Research Laboratories
خان تجربہ گاہ و مراکز تحقیق
Former name
  • Engineering Research Laboratories
  • Kahuta Research Laboratories
  • Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories
  • Project-706
Established31 July 1976 (1976-07-31)[1]
Field of research
LocationKahuta, Rawalpindi district, Pakistan
Affiliations
Websitewww.krl.com.pk/

The site was organized to produce weapons-grade nuclear material, primarily weapons-grade uranium, as part of Pakistan's secretive atomic bomb program in the years after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971.[5] Chosen to be a top-secret location, it was built in secrecy by the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. It was commissioned under the Army engineers with civilian scientists joining the site in late 1976.[5] During the midst of the 1970s, the site was the cornerstone of the first stage of Pakistan's atomic bomb program, and is one of the many sites where classified scientific research on atomic bombs was undertaken.[6]

The KRL has prestige for conducting research and development to be able to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU) utilizing the Zippe-method of gas centrifuge– the other user of this method is the Urenco Group in the Netherlands.[6] Since its inception, many technical staff have been employed, mostly physicists and mathematicians, assisted by engineers (both Army and civilians), chemists, and material scientists.[7] Professional scientists and engineers are delegated to visit this institute, after undergoing strict screening and background checks, to participate as visitors in scientific projects.[7]

As of its current mission, KRL is one of the largest science and technology research sites in Pakistan, and conducts multidisciplinary research and development in fields such as national security, space exploration, and supercomputing.[6]

History
Main article: Kahuta Project

As early as the 1970s, the early stage of Pakistan's atomic bomb program focused its primary efforts on producing and developing a weapons-grade plutonium nuclear device under the research led by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) at its national laboratory, the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) in Nilore.[8] In 1974, India conducted a surprise nuclear test, (Smiling Buddha), so PAEC launched a clandestine uranium enrichment project with nuclear engineer Sultan Mahmood becoming its director– Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan joined the program in 1974 as an adviser.[8] Work at the Kahuta site was initiated by Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.[9][10]

After disagreeing with Director Sultan Mahmood's calculations and feasibility report submitted to the government, Prime Minister Bhutto detached the work from PAEC by making Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan its chief scientist in 1976. The uranium program was moved to Kahuta where the project was established as the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL). According to Dr. Khan, materials were imported from Europe with the help of two procurement officers; one of them was Engineer Ikramul Haq Khan, deputed to KRL via Major-General Ali Nawab, Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military) 1979.[11][12]

Wanting a capable civil engineer to supervise the construction, Bhutto asked the Chief of Army Staff for the selection, and the Engineer-in-Chief chose Brigadier Zahid Ali Akbar to lead the program.[9] Because the experiments were deemed too dangerous to conduct in a major city, the operations were moved in a remote mountainous northern areas of Pakistan.[13] The entire site and Kahuta was rebuilt in the 1980s by the Corps of Engineers under Lieutenant-General Zahid Ali Akbar, with logistics provided by the Military Engineering Service.[13][14][15] Conducting classified research, the facility was heavy secured by both the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).[13] All employees needed badges to pass a checkpoint, and the laboratories are electronically fenced and guarded.[13]

The ERL was intended to spur innovation and provide competition to the weapon design at PAEC.[8] Some renowned scientists, Dr. G. D. Alam (theoretical physicist) from PAEC had joined the ERL and enriched the uranium at Kahuta while Dr. T. M. Shah (a mathematician) and Anwar Ali (a physicist) and some other scientists also supported him.[5][16] The site quickly installed thousands of gas centrifuges, using the Zippe method, to run at about 65,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) for an average of 10 years. The Uranium-235 (U235) containing only ~0.7% enriched material is brought to more than 90.0% through three stages of enrichment, leaving the original material depleted from 0.7% to 0.2%, which then now at both civilian and military-grade.[16] In the 1970s, ERL heavily depended on URENCO's method but lessened the dependence in 1979 after local methods were developed with efforts studied and learned by Dr. G. D. Alam and Dr. T. M Shah. Unverified claims were made by KRL in 1983–84 of conducting weapon design tests.[16] After visiting the site in May 1981, President Zia-ul-Haq renamed ERL as the Khan Research Laboratory (KRL) in honor of its founder and senior scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.[17] The KRL established a system of computer numerical control to control the ultracentrifuges in 1983. By 1986, KRL began producing highly enriched uranium (HEU) as well as developing the krytron, while classified work on the uranium weapon design took place with uranium hexafluoride (UF6) being reduced to uranium metal and machined into weapon pits. The KRL began publishing a series of academic articles on numerics and computational methods for centrifuge design, including a 1987 article co-authored by Abdul Qadeer Khan on techniques for balancing sophisticated ultracentrifuge rotors.[18]

In the 1990s, KRL had a number of the most high-performance supercomputer and parallel computing systems installed at the facility.[5] A parallel Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) division was established which specialized in conducting high performance computations on shock waves in weapons effect from the outer surface to the inner core by using difficult differential equations of the state of the materials used in the bomb under high pressure.[16]

In an investigative report published by Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Chinese scientists were reportedly present at Kahuta in the early 1980s— an unconfirmed indicator of Chinese assistance in the development of equipment at Kahuta.[19] In 1996, the U.S. intelligence community maintained that China provided magnetic rings for special suspension bearings mounted at the top of rotating centrifuge cylinders. In 2005, it was revealed that President Zia-ul-Haq's military government had KRL run a HEU programme in the Chinese nuclear weapons program.[20] Abdul Qadeer Khan also alleged that "KRL has built a centrifuge facility for China in Hanzhong city".[20]

Extended research
Main articles: Government College University, Lahore and Karachi University

The academic research programs and development opportunities at the KRL are supported by the physics departments of the Government College University in Lahore in Punjab and the University of Karachi in Sindh.[21][22] The KRL supports its physics program through funding and providing scholarship to physics and engineering students at the Government College University.[23]

The continuing efforts to make the laboratories more science efficient led the Ministry of Science (MoST) to grant a three research and fellowship programmes with the Government College University with the support of Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF).[24][25] Since 1980 at present, the KRL continues to develop the research work on computational mathematics, supercomputing and advanced mathematics to the extended applications to natural sciences.[26]

In 1999, the KRL established a research institute on computer science at Kahuta, which was later integrated to University of Engineering and Technology in Taxila.[27]

The civilian research on biotechnology, biology and Genetic Engineering is supported by the KRL at the University of Karachi,[28] with the support from Pakistan Science Foundation.[29] The KRL organized a conference on Computational biology in Islamabad to present overview of the scope of computational sciences.[30]

National security program

Apart from researching on uranium and developing the uranium enrichment facilities, the KRL includes a ballistic missile-space research laboratories[19] that competes with the PAEC to produce advanced ballistic missiles ranging for targeting enemy combatant targets and the space exploration. Its space-missile exploration projects based on producing the liquid fuel rockets in comparison to solid fuel rockets projects of the National Development Complex (NDC). The KRL's missile projects are widely believed to be based on North Korean technology; exchanges took place in the late 1990s. The following missiles have been produced by KRL:[31]

The KRL performs variety of weapons science and engineering projects for Pakistan Armed Forces. Since the 1980s, the KRL is involved in numerous military equipment and conventional weaponry development projects. The resulting systems have been put into service by the Pakistan's military and exported to other friendly nations. The following is a list of known equipment produced under these projects:[19][31]

KRL is said to have entered into an agreement with Malaysian businessman Shah Hakim Zain to export weapons to Malaysia.[32]

Notes
  1. Previously known at various times as Project-706, Engineering Research Laboratories, and Kahuta Research Laboratories

References
  1. Aziz, Shaikh (26 July 2015). "A leaf from history: Defending Kahuta". DAWN.COM.
  2. Originally, the concept was conceived during the post-1971 war, and the programme was launched in 1974 under the codename "Project-706". In 1976, the laboratories was founded in 1976 as a highly sensitive, centralized, and secretive facility to coordinate the scientific research for the clandestine atomic bomb project. The laboratories were founded by Abdul Qadeer Khan who served its senior scientist at first, and was built under the engineering management of the Corps of Engineers. Since 1976, the laboratories has been multiply referred as to "Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL)"; the "Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL)"; Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (also KRL)" or alternatively denoted as "Khan Labs"
  3. Moltz, Sarah J. Diehl, James Clay (2008). Nuclear weapons and nonproliferation : a reference handbook (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1598840711.
  4. "Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) | Facilities | NTI". www.nti.org.
  5. Khan, A. Q. (8 September 2014). "Unsung heroes Part X". News International, Part X. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014.
  6. Pike, John. "Kahuta: Pakistan's Special Labs". Tuesday, May 16, 2000 12:00:01 AM. Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  7. "Sample Preparation Facilities". GC University Press. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  8. Khan, Feroz Hassan (2012). Eating grass : the making of the Pakistan bomb. Stanford, Calif. [u.s]: Stanford University Press. p. 521. ISBN 9780804776004. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  9. Khan, Abdul Qadeer (29 July 2009). "Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Kahuta". The News International, 2009. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  10. Babar (M.Sc Civil Engineering), Farhatullah. "Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the atomic bomb project". Pakistan Peoples Party, (Directorate-General for the Public Relations and Media Broadcasting Publications). Directorate-General for the Public Relations and Media Broadcasting Publications. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  11. "Unsung heroes part XVI". Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  12. "Unsung heroes part XV". Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  13. Koelbl, Susanne (28 June 2011). "'We May Be Naive, But We Are Not Idiots', Pakistan Nuclear Development". Spiegel Online. Susanne Koelbl of the Spiegel Online. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  14. PA, Pakistan Army. "KAK Bridge to KRL". Frontier Works Organizations (1989). DIrectorate of Inter-Services Public Relations. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  15. Khan, A. Q. (29 September 2014). "Unsung heroes Part XIII". News iNternational. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014.
  16. From the Memoirs of Dr. A.Q. Khan (22 September 2014). "Part XII". News International. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  17. Pike, John. "Kahuta: Khan Research Laboratories: A.Q. Khan Laboratories: Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL)". The Federation of American Scientists (Updated Tuesday, May 16, 2000 12:00:01 AM ). Federation of American Scientists (FAS). Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  18. Upadhyaya, Gopal S. (2011). "§Dr. A.Q. Khan of Pakistan". Men of Metals and Materials: My Memoires. Bloomington, Indiana, United States: iUniverse.com. p. 248pp. ISBN 9698500006.
  19. "Kahuta - Pakistan Special Weapons Facilities". www.globalsecurity.org.
  20. Kan, Shirley A. (2009). "§A.Q. Khan's nuclear network". China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy issues. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service (CRS): Congressional Research Service (CRS). pp. 5–6. ISBN Congressional Research Service (CRS).
  21. "Physics – GC University, Lahore". Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  22. "Department of Physics, Karachi University". uok.edu.pk. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  23. "Salam Chair in Physics, Department of Physics". GC University Press release. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  24. GCU. "Department of Physics, KRL". Government College University. Department of Physics and Mathematics (GCU). Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  25. GCU. "Abdus Salam Chair in Physics in KRL". Government College University. Abdus Salam Chair in Physic (GCU). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  26. Techmoot. "Tasneem Shah of KRL". Techmoot. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  27. staff. "Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Computer Sciences and Information Technology". Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Computer Sciences and Information Technology. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  28. staff. "DR. A. Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering". Karachi University Press. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  29. staff correspondents (28 October 2013). "Stressing Science". Express Tribune, 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  30. News Desk (22 October 2013). "Conference: Students advised to adopt modern research techniques". Express News. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  31. http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/pakistan/missile/3294_3321.html
  32. "Malaysia Today Article". Archived from the original on 24 July 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2010.

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