The first nuclear reactor was supplied and financially constructed by the Government of United States of America in the mid 1960s.

The other reactor and reprocessing facility are built and supplied by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively.

The PINSTECH institute was designed by American architect Edward Durrell Stone, when noted Pakistani scientists, Abdus Salam and Ishrat Hussain Usmani travelled to the United States of America in the early 1960s.

[3] The first reactor went critical on 21 December 1965 under the supervision of Hafeez Qureshi, Dr. M. N. Qazi, Naeem Ahmad Khan and Saleem Rana.

[4] The program was carried out to meet demands of higher neutron fluxes for experimental research purposes and the isotope production.

The reactor was made critical on 31 October 1991 under the supervision of Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad and Dr. Iqbal Hussain Qureshi, and attained power level of 10 MW on 7 May 1992.

A PARR-II consists of a core reactor, control rod, and nuclear reflectors, and it is enclosed in a water-tight cylindrical Al13 alloy vessel.

[10] New Labs were designed and constructed indigenously by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) under its chairman Munir Ahmad Khan whereas it project-director was a mechanical engineer, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed.

In the 1960s PAEC contracted the project with British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), and Saint-Gobain Techniques Nouvelles (SGN).

However, after the India's Operation Smiling Buddha nuclear test, both British and French consumer companies immediately cancelled their contracts with PAEC.

The New Labs came into limelight when Pakistan had secretly tested its plutonium weapon-based nuclear device in Kirana Hills.

[13] It is designed and planned to do fast neutron activation for elements such as oxygen and nitrogen as well as some rare earth isotopes.