Google Earth just posted satellite images from GeoEye taken on March 3, 2010 of the Rare Materials Plant (RMP) in India. This is the site of India’s military gas centrifuge uranium enhancement program. In the new imagery, initial excavation and construction of a large building or buildings can be seen. While the construction is in its early stage in this image, the size of the building or buildings to be constructed indicates that these will be huge industrial buildings.
A DigitalGlobe satellite image from 2005 shows the same area as undeveloped with several adjacent ponds.Based on procurement data and public advertisements for bidding request, Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) concluded in 2006 that India was on the edge of adding at least 3,000 centrifuge to the RMP1. If the construction seen in the March 3, 2010 imagery is for a new gas centrifuge hall, India’s uranium enrichment capacity at RMP will be greatly extended.
Since the 1970s, India has pursued gas centrifuges to improve uranium. The history and current status of India’s gas centrifuge program has been a long-held state secret. ISIS has been producing reports that draw the history of India’s centrifuge enrichment program and assess its current and projected enhancement capacity based on open sources, information from interviews with Indian and other government official, and publicly available procurement data.
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