Pakistan expanding commercial nuclear energy with 6 more power plant locations

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced Tuesday that his country will build six more civil nuclear power plants. According to the prime minister, Pakistan would produce 40,000 MW of power from nuclear plants till 2050 and the government’s priority was to start work on power projects to overcome the energy shortage.

Sharif also expressed his gratitude to China for its help in building nuclear power plants in Pakistan.

Pakistan currently has a small nuclear power program, with 725 MWe capacity, but is moving to increase this substantially.

3 small reactors exist now.
2 more 340 MWe are under construction
One 1000 MWe and two 1100 MWe are about to start construction
The above should be completed by 2020.

There are six more powerplant locations that will each have 1100MWe reactors as well.
Those should be completed by 2030.

In July 2013 the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved 3.5 GWe of new power projects totaling Rs 1303 billion ($13 billion), comprising 2200 MWe nuclear, 425 MWe gas combined cycle, and 969 MWe hydro. These are designed to reduce the high reliance on oil and to reduce power costs.All depend on Chinese support.

Its first nuclear power reactor was a small 137 MWe (125 MWe net) Canadian pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) which started up in 1971 and which is under international safeguards – KANUPP at Paradise Point in Sindh province, about 25 km west of Karachi. It is operated at reduced power.

The second unit is Chashma 1 in Punjab province in the north, a 325 MWe (300 MWe net) 2-loop pressurised water reactor (PWR) supplied by China’s CNNC under safeguards. The main part of the plant was designed by Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI), based on Qinshan 1. It started up in May 2000 and is also known as CHASNUPP 1. Designed life span is 40 years. It, and the following 3 units, were built using international design codes and standards.

Construction of its twin, Chashma 2, started in December 2005. It was reported to cost PKR 51.46 billion (US$ 860 million, with $350 million of this financed by China). A safeguards agreement with IAEA was signed in 2006 and grid connection was in March 2011, with commercial operation in May.

In June 2008 the government announced plans to build units 3 and 4 at Chashma, each 320 MWe gross and largely financed by China. A further agreement for China’s help with the project was signed in October 2008. The main construction contract was signed in June 2010, and the two 340 MWe CNP-300 (315 MWe net) units are to be completed in eight years. They will have a design life of 40 years and be under IAEA safeguards. Construction of unit 3 officially started at the end of May 2011, and unit 4 in December 2011. The dome of unit 3 was fitted in March 2013.
In April 2013 it was reported that the PAEC would receive a significant increase in budget appropriation to expedite construction of Chashma 3 & 4.

Chashma 5
In November 2010 the PAEC is reported to have signed a construction agreement with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) for a fifth unit at Chashma. In February 2013 a further agreement was signed by PAEC with CNNC for a 1000 MWe unit at Chashma. It was reported that China expected that this deal would be controversial under the NPT and guidelines of the NSG. Early in 2013 CNNC confirmed its intention to build a 1000 MWe class reactor, and said it would be an ACP1000 unit, though not necessarily at Chashma.

Karachi coastal power project

In June 2013 the Planning Commission said that two CNNC 1000 MWe class reactors would be used for Karachi 2 and 3 (KANUPP 2 & 3) near Karachi unit 1. Two coastal sites have been under consideration for the twin 1100 MWe units. CNNC in April 2013 announced an export agreement for the ACP1000, nominally 1100 MWe, apparently for Pakistan. This was confirmed in June by the PAEC which said that the next nuclear project would be 1100 MWe class units which it would build, the Karachi Coastal Power station, costing $9.5 billion. At the end of August contracts were signed in Shanghai with CNNC, China Zhongyuan Engineering Co. Ltd. (CZEC), China Nuclear Power Engineering Co. Ltd. (CNPE), Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), and East China Electric Power Designing Institute (ECEPDI). First concrete is envisaged by the end of 2014.

In July 2013 ECNEC approved two units of the Karachi Costal Power Project with net generation capacity of 2,117 MWe. The total cost of this is estimated at Rs 959 billion ($9.595 billion).

In August 2011 it was reported that Pakistan aimed for 8000 MWe nuclear at ten sites by 2030. PAEC has apparently selected six new sites on the basis of the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) advice. These are Qadirabad-Bulloki (QB) link canal near Qadirabad Headworks; Dera Ghazi Khan canal near Tuansa Barrage; Taunsa-Punjnad canal near Multan; Nara canal near Sukkur; Pat Feeder canal near Guddu and Kabul River near Nowshera. Early in 2012 PAEC said that four reactors were planned for the Taunsa-Punjnad canal near Multan in Punjab.

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