NEW DELHI, Sept 20: India and Pakistan have placed strict security at facilities that house their nuclear weapons, virtually eliminating the possibility of a theft, a new US government-funded study was quoted on Friday as saying.

Indo-Asian News Service said in a dispatch from Washington that the study, conducted by private experts hired by the US Department of Energy, suggested that it was unlikely that terrorists would be able to steal Pakistani or Indian nuclear weapons. The weapons are stored in an unassembled state to discourage theft.

Researcher Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a former professor of Pakistan studies at Columbia University, and nuclear security analyst Rajesh Basrur, formerly of Bombay University, conducted the study in four months.

The Voice of America on Thursday quoted Rizvi as saying it is unlikely that a terrorist group in Pakistan can gain access to material to build a nuclear bomb, especially against the backdrop of heightened security following Sept 11.

But, he said, there is a possibility that a disgruntled employee or an extremist working in a nuclear facility could steal radioactive material or carry out an armed attack.

The study offers suggestions on how to prevent a nuclear attack, which include keeping track of individual extremists and upgrading safety and security.

Prof Rizvi said that while Pakistan has taken steps to increase security at nuclear facilities, there is no evidence that it has acted on an offer of direct US involvement in efforts to protect against the risk of nuclear terrorism.

He said this was an offer that Secretary of State Colin Powell had made when he visited Pakistan. Pakistan had accepted that, but there was no follow up.

“The Americans were saying ‘do not worry, we will take care of it’. Pakistan said, ‘no, it is not going to happen. We need technology, we need guidance, we need training, but we will not give access to American technocrats or scientists to Pakistan’s nuclear weapon programme’,” Rizvi is quoted as having said.

The researchers said that while the threat from nuclear terrorists is even less likely in India, it could not be ignored there either, since India has long been a target of terrorism and has a larger number of nuclear reactors than Pakistan.

The study, presented at Columbia University, will be published in six weeks.