india's potential nuclear arsenal is bigger than Britain's and is in the same league as the French and the Chinese, according to a report of the Jane's Intelligence Review . It's nuclear weapons programme is based on weapons-grade plutonium reprocessed from fuel from the Cirus and Dhruva research reactors in Trombay.
If the fissile material produced by the two reactors is taken into account, the country may have 20 to 60 nuclear weapons, said the military magazine. Whereas Pakistan's arsenal is estimated between six to 12 nuclear weapons, said the report.
Several commercial nuclear reactors in India produce plutonium. This radioactive material is considered ideal for making nuclear weapons. Scientists in the uk have successfully made nuclear weapons from it. Indian scientists attempted a similar feat in the recent nuclear tests, said the report.
It is estimated that India is capable of building anything from 390 nuclear weapons to 470 weapons, the magazine said. According to the Washington-based National Resource Defence Council, at the end of 1996, Britain had 260 nuclear weapons, China had 400 and France had 450.
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