14-05-2025
IAEA: No radiation leak or release from any nuclear facility in Pakistan
The global nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said that there has been 'no radiation leak' from any nuclear facility in Pakistan after the escalated military engagement with India.
The Vienna-based global nuclear watchdog's reply, to a query from The Indian Express, ties in with the earlier response by the Indian Air Force that India has not hit any target in Pakistan's Kirana Hills, which is reported to house some nuclear installations.
'We are aware of the reports you are referring to. Based on information available to the IAEA, there has been no radiation leak or release from any nuclear facility in Pakistan,' an IAEA spokesperson told The Indian Express on Tuesday in response to a query on whether any nuclear incident or spill has been brought to the notice of the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre.
Established in 2005, the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre is the focal point for coordination of international assistance in emergency preparedness and response to radiation incidents and emergencies — regardless of their cause or severity.
Incidentally, at a US State Department press briefing in Washington DC on May 13, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Thomas Pigott, too, was asked a specific question on this subject.
'Has (the) US sent a team to Islamabad or Pakistan following reports that there have been leaks of nuclear radiation in some of the secure Pakistani sites?' To this question at the briefing, Pigott said: 'I have nothing to preview on that at this time.'
On Monday, Air Marshal A K Bharti, DG Air Operations, had said that India has not hit any target in Pakistan's Kirana Hills.
In response to a specific question at a press briefing, Air Marshal Bharti said, 'Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installations. We did not know about it. We have not hit Kirana Hills. I did not brief in my briefing yesterday.'
When asked about the speculation on 'nuclear war' by US President Donald Trump, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said Monday: 'The military action was entirely in the conventional domain. There were some reports that Pakistan's National Command Authority will meet on 10 May. But this was later denied by them. Pakistan FM has himself denied the nuclear angle on record.'
'As you know, India has a firm stance that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail or allow cross-border terrorism to be conducted invoking it. In conversations with various countries, we also cautioned that their subscribing to such scenarios could hurt them in their own region,' he said.
The Mushaf air base in Sargodha was targeted by India during Operation Sindoor. Sargodha, one of Pakistan's biggest air bases, is near Kirana Hills. The Sargodha air base is also said to be strategically important given that it is used by F-16 fighter jets.
Director-General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry had told a media briefing in Rawalpindi on May 10 that India had carried out airstrikes on three Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bases: Nur Khan, Murid, and Shorkot. The Express Tribune subsequently quoted an ISPR statement of May 14 to say that drones were detected 'over multiple Pakistani cities, including Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Attock, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sheikhupura, Nankana, Ghotki and Karachi's Malir district'.
As is customary, on January 1, 2025, too, India and Pakistan had exchanged, through diplomatic channels, the list of 'nuclear installations and facilities', covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installation and Facilities between the two countries.
This Agreement, which was signed on December 31, 1988, and entered into force on January 27, 1991, provides that India and Pakistan inform each other of the nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under this Agreement on January 1 of every calendar year. This was the 34th consecutive exchange of such lists between the two countries, the first one having taken place on January 1, 1992.
