Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology


The Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, is a federally funded multiprogram science and technology :Category:Research institutes in Pakistan|national research institute and :Category:Laboratories in Pakistan|national laboratory site managed for the Government of Pakistan's federal ministries by the Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Located in Nilore, it maintains a broad portfolio in providing post-graduate and post-doctoral research opportunities in supercomputing, renewable energy, physical, philosophical, materials, environmental, and mathematical sciences.
Researchers and scholars are invited from universities throughout Pakistan.

Overview

Research scope

The PINSTECH is regarded as the one of the most advanced and premium research facility in Pakistan. As of 2016, PINSTECH's major research focus is on:
The PAEC Chair Dr. I. H. Usmani wanted a premium nuclear facility whose operations are roughly based on the American facilities such as ORNL, ANL, LLNL, and SNL. Many scientists educated at the ORNL and ANL were initially asked to join the PINSTECH. Designed by world-renowned American architect Edward Durell Stone in 1963, the construction was completed in 1965.
About the PINSTECH, Edward Stone once inscribed in these words: "This....has been my greatest work. I am proud that it looks like it belongs in this country.."
The scientific library of the institute consisted of a large section containing loaded historical references and literature on Manhattan Project, brought by Abdus Salam in 1971 prior to start of the Nuclear weapons programme under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

History

The roots of the institution dated back to 1951 when Abdus Salam returned to Pakistan to join University of the Punjab. After facing a fierce opposition from his fellow scientists at the physics department of the University of the Punjab in 1953, Salam soon faced the choice between intellectual death or migration to the stimulating environment of a western institutions from Pakistan. This realization left a deep impression on him and behind his determination to create an institution to which physicists from the developing countries would come as a right to interact with their peers from industrially advanced countries without permanently leaving their own countries. Establishing the world class physics research institute, roughly equivalent to CERN, in Pakistan was a dream of Dr. Abdus Salam who initiated the establishment of PINSTECH.
Together with dr. I. H. Usmani, Salam initiated the deal with the United States to established the P in Nilore and gave its first directorship to nuclear physicist dr. Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry of the Government College University, Lahore. For sometime, the PINSTECH became affiliated with the Quaid-i-Azam University in 1967, bearing some special materials testing. Soon, the scientists from Institute of Theoretical Physics at the Quaid-i-Azam University joined the PINSTECH to engage research in physics. After the war with India in 1971, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto orchestrated to established an efforts towards a nuclear deterrence loosely based on Manhattan Project of the 1940s. Salam took over the operations of PINSTECH institute to oversee the research and development, and its eventual production of the weapons in 1972.
In 1970s, the PINSTECH was an epicenter and a focal point for Pakistani scientists to conduct research in physics where the basic and applied science research in PINSTECH picked up its speed, when Pakistani scientists feared that India was rapidly developing an atomic bomb. The facility continues its expansion in Nilore by the Corps of Engineers. As Nilore became restricted and secret city, the site was one of the integral site for the nuclear weapons research. In its initial years, the PINSTECH activities were directed towards reprocessing the civilian-grade plutonium to military-grade plutonium. The worked carried out on 20 different laboratories and facilities ran under Munir Ahmad Khan in 1970s. Its first division, the New Labs was dedicated to the production of the weapon grade plutonium of 239Pu. In 1983, Nuclear Physics Division working under Ishfaq Ahmad successfully produced the 239Pu, a weapon grade plutonium. Throughout the formulative year, the scientists and engineers at PINSTECH carried out technologically advanced research at the PINSTECH. In May 30, 1998, the PAEC scientists and engineers had performed the second nuclear test—codename Chagai-II— of a fissionable device, and the device's weapon grade plutonium was produced at the New Labs. The research reactors at the institute were last upgraded by Munir Ahmad Khan — chairman of PAEC at that time — as he led both Electronics Division and Nuclear Engineering Division in 1989.
As of today, PINSTECH has been shifted to peacetime research in medicine, biology, materials and physics. Its Molybdenum-42 facility was used to medical radioisotopes for treating cancer. Scientists from Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology and Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture had been using the PINSTECH facilities to conduc advanced research in both medical and food sciences.

Research

PINSTECH is the most advanced facility in the country having state of the art equipment and instruments for doing R & D work; therefore it remain an obvious choice for the students and researchers from all over Pakistan where they could find many important techniques under one roof. Recently the famous concept of centralized analysis facility has been utilized where a researcher can go and work with any piece of nuclear equipment that the researcher has been assigned. The Central Diagnostic Laboratory and Central Analytical Facility are the most potent facilities in Pakistan.
PINSTECH promotes applications of radiation and isotope technology in various scientific and technological disciplines to support the nation. It is also working on important non-nuclear fields, which are crucial for the development of science and technology in the country.

Nuclear reactors

PINSTECH has particle accelerators and also operates two small nuclear research reactors, a reprocessing plant and another experimental neutron source based on:
The PINSTECH four research directorates and each directorate is headed by an appointed Director-Generals. The following PINSTECH Divisions are listed below:

Directorate of Science

Physics Research Division
The directorate of science consists of four division, and each divisions are headed by deputy director-generals. In 2004, the PINSTECH administration had brought together all of the groups, and were merged into one single Division, known as Physics Research Division. Meanwhile, the PINSTECH had also merged Nuclear Physics Division and Radiation Physics Division, Nuclear and Applied Chemistry Divisions as well. The below is the list of research groups working in RPD.
Chemistry Research Division
The Directorate of System and Services - The Health Physics Division was established in 1965 by the small team of health physicists. Founded as a group, it was made a division of PINSTECH in 1966. The division heavily involves its research in medical physics and using nuclear technology in medical and agricultural sciences.
The Directorate of Technology consists of 3 divisions that are Materials Division, Isotope Application Division, and the Isotope Production Division.This is currently overseen by Dr. Gulzar Hussain Zahid, Chief Engineer.
The Directorate of Coordination, headed by Engr. Iqbal Hussain Khan, is an administrative directorate which consists of 3 administrative divisions. The Scientific Information Division, Human Resource Development, and Management Information System, are included in this division.
NumbersNameTimeline of DirectorsAlma MaterFieldEducational Background
1Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry1965–1970University of Cambridge Nuclear PhysicsDoctor of Philosophy
2Abdus Salam1970–1971Imperial CollegeTheoretical PhysicsDoctor of Philosophy
3Ishfaq Ahmad1971–1976Université de Montréal Nuclear PhysicsDoctor of Science
4Munir Ahmad Khan1976–1977North Carolina State University Nuclear EngineeringMaster of Science
5Naeem Ahmad Khan1977–1984University of ManchesterNuclear PhysicsDoctor of Philosophy
6Iqbal Hussain Qureshi1986–1991University of TokyoNuclear ChemistryDoctor of Philosophy
7Noor Muhammad Butt1991–1996University of BirminghamNuclear PhysicsDoctor of Science
8Hameed Ahmad Khan1996–2000University of BirminghamNuclear, Space, and Reactor physicsDoctor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy
9Mustansar Jehangir2000–2005University of BirminghamNuclear ChemistryDoctor of Philosophy
10Masud Ahmad2005–2007Imperial CollegeTheoretical PhysicsDoctor of Philosophy
11Ansar Pervaiz2007–2010Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteNuclear EngineeringDoctor of Philosophy
12Syed Jamshed Hussain Zaidi2010–PresentUniversity of Peshawar, Forschungszentrum JülichNuclear ChemistryDoctor of Philosophy