Pakistan's third nuclear power plant becomes operational

CHASHMA: Pakistan's third nuclear electric power plant went operational Thursday, pumping another 330 MW into the national grid in a bid to help meet country's growing energy demand and cut down the shortfall.

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani inaugurated the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-1 (CHASNUPP-2), located near Chashma Barrage on the left bank of River Indus, 32 kilometres south of Mianwali city and, 280 kms south-west of Islamabad.

Addressing the gathering, the prime minister termed the moment as a proud day for Pakistan and its civil nuclear energy programme. He said the completion of Chashma-2 three months ahead of the scheduled time was a reward for the joint efforts of Chinese and Pakistani teams, the benefits of which will go directly to the people of Pakistan.

He regarded it yet another illustrious example of the Pakistan-China cooperation in the field of nuclear science and technology.

"Completion of this project takes to even greater heights the long and time-tested friendship between the two countries and their people," he said.

Gilani lauded the CNNC and other Chinese teams and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) for their excellent planning and execution.

"We are duty bound to make every effort to overcome the prevailing crisis by exploiting all the available sources and avenues of power generation in the shortest possible time," he said.

The PM said the generation of additional 330 MW electricity would provide immediate relief to a section of consumers, adding that two more power plants C-3 and C-4 already under construction at this site would help in paving the way for PAEC to meet the government assigned target of 8800 MW by the Year 2030.

"Infact, I will encourage you to look beyond 2030, say to 2050, and provide Pakistan with far greater capacity than 8800 MW. I am sure, you will accept the challenge," he said.

Gilani also emphasized on paying full attention to the safety of the current and the future nuclear power plants of the country and expressed satisfaction on undergoing a review of safety assessment and emergency preparedness of their plants in the wake of nuclear accident in Japan.

Chairman PAEC Dr Ansar Parvez said two more plants C3 and C4 had already been planned in accordance with the safeguard agreements with IAEA approved by the its board of governors in March.

He said the events at Fukushima nuclear power plant had been closely monitored and where required, additional measures would be taken to further improve safety and emergency planning.

Vice Administrator of SASTIND Wang Yiren congratulated Pakistan on ahead of schedule completion of the plant and said the ties between the two countries were solid as a rock.

He said both countries need to strengthen cooperation in nuclear safety and hoped that the joint Pakistan-China team would deliver on time completion of C3 and C4, while ensuring all safety parameters and write new chapters of friendship between the two countries.

Later, Prime Minister Gilani gave away honorary shields to the Pakistani and Chinese engineers who contributed to the project.

The construction on the Pressurized Water Reactor, built with the Chinese assistance, began on Dec 28, 2005 and was connected to the electricity grid on March 14, 2011. Being operational from today (May 12), the plant has a net capacity of 300 MW, and a gross capacity is 325 MW.

With the Chasnupp-2 operational the country's nuclear energy generation would rise to 725 megawatts. Current nuclear power generation stands at a mere 2.8 percent of electricity generated in the country.

The IAEA Board of Governors had unanimously approved the Safeguards Agreement between Pakistan and IAEA in respect of CHASHMA-2 nuclear power in November 2006. Pakistan 's two research reactors (PARR-I & PARR2) and two nuclear power plants (KANUPP & CHASHMA-1) are already under the IAEA safeguards. CHASNUPP-2 is part of Pakistan's "Energy Security Plan", that envisages an increase in nuclear power generation from the current 425 MWe to 8800 MWe by the year 2030 to meet country's growing energy demands.

Pakistan had termed the agreement with IAEA a success for Pakistan and recognition of its nonproliferation commitments.

Pakistan has a small nuclear power program, with 725 MWe capacity, but plans to increase this substantially. The country's first Canadian pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) at Karachi - KANUPP, with a gross capacity of 137 MWe is generating net 125 MWe and is under international safeguards.

The second unit is Chashma-1 (CHASNUPP-1) in Punjab, a 325 MWe (300 MWe net) 2-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) has been supplied by China's CNNC under safeguards.

The main part of the plant was designed by Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI) and it started operations in May 2000. It also has a design life of 40 years.

Work on the Chashma-3 and Chashma-4 reactors with 300 MWe each is also under way and would nearly double this capacity, adding another 600 megawatts to the grid.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency's Power Reactor Information System there are 443 nuclear power reactions in operation, with a total installed capacity of over 375 GW(e) around the world. (APP)