N-power plants in Karachi

After having failed to create premonitions and misgivings in recent past about construction of two coastal nuclear power stations near Karachi, namely Kanupp-2 and Kanupp-3, the anti-nuclear lobby has once again launched a tirade against the project, which has already suffered significant delays due to strong vested interests trying to giving it a controversial twist. The fact is that the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA), an independent body which follows best practices and international standards, has approved the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) related to the project, after conducting a painstaking exercise spanning over a period of more than eighteen months, following national and international parameters taking into consideration all consequences and public health safety considerations, and fully associating the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Promoting nuclear power generation is imperative to overcoming energy crisis, besides its being critically important from a strategic point of view. Nuclear power is globally recognised as a key energy source since enormous supply of electricity is gained from a small quantity of uranium. It is safe, cost-effective, reliable, sustainable, continuous base-load power, more economical and efficient and has no emission of greenhouse gases. After a short pause since Fukushima-Daiichi plant disaster in 2011, Japan is returning to nuclear power generation. As a policy, Sendai nuclear power plant located in southern Japan has restarted its operations under new safety rules, while approval to restart another four reactors in Japan, in the first phase, has also been given. The Japanese government has plans to bring share of nuclear power generation in total energy mix to about 22% by 2030.

Pakistan plans to establish progressively cumulative nuclear power generation capacity up to 8,800 MWe by 2030, whereas Pakistan Vision 2050 has set the target of adding 40,000 MWe nuclear power to total energy mix. On the other hand, there are 21 reactors in operation in India with an installed capacity of 5,302 MWe, while another 4,300 MWe nuclear power generation capacity would be added to the system this year. India also plans to construct additional 35 reactors by 2024 countrywide with a total capacity of about 40,000 MWe. Intriguingly, most of these installations or projects are not covered under the IAEA safeguards. As nuclear radiation/contamination knows no borders, population in Pakistan also remains at risk in case a nuclear accident occurs in India. Nonetheless, nothing is said in Pakistan about the possible danger!

Writers have ignored the fact that country has an impeccable record of safety and security in operating nuclear power plants since 1972, under safeguards of the IAEA that has repeatedly shown satisfaction over safety measures adopted, whereas Pakistan is party to the Convention on Nuclear Safety and to two international conventions for early notification and assistance. Currently, Pakistan is ranked 22nd out of 25 countries on the Nuclear Materials Safety Index in terms of safety and security, and is placed above India, which is also manifested in the fact that Kanupp-1, which was commissioned in 1972, has been safely operating beyond its initial design life.

Nuclear safety record the world over is impressive, and three accidents occurred during a long history of more than six decades of operating nuclear power plants. Comparatively, there have been more disasters in coal mining, oil and gas explorations and dam failures. In fact, nuclear is the safest means of power generation. China has the world’s largest expanding nuclear industry, with 33 operating reactors of 29,577 MWe net cumulative capacity, while 21 reactors are under construction and another 42 are planned. China, now the eighth nuclear power plant exporter in the world, had entered into export market with the construction of Chasnupp-1 in turnkey mode.

Likewise, the under-construction Kanupp-2 would be the first Chinese 1,100 MWe reactor overseas, which is known as “Hualong One”. It has a series of barriers to keep radiation inside the plant such as a combination of active and passive systems, a single stack layout, and 177 nuclear fuel assemblies. Plant design has double containment structure with enhanced value of 0.3g (unit of shaking or acceleration), which could roughly be considered equivalent to over 8 Richter magnitude scale of earthquake. The containment can withstand crash of a large commercial aircraft, an earthquake right under the building and other natural disasters. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) has ruled out any threat to the proposed facilities from tsunami since the plants are being constructed at 12 meters above the sea level and maximum waves by tsunami are 7 meters above the sea level.

The Chinese nuclear industry has been developing and improving nuclear reactor technology over decades, resulting in advanced reactors featuring simpler design, more fuel efficient, better safety, and low capital cost. The next-generation pressurized light water reactor (PWR) “Hualong One”, basically an 1150 MWe gross and 1092 MWe net capacity export model, is an integration of China’s well-proven ACPR 1000 (of CGN) and ACP 1000 (of CNNC) reactors into one standardised design. The IAEA Generic Reactor Safety Review (GRSR) of the “Hualong One”, the first Chinese reactor design to undertake such a process, was completed in December 2014. Construction of the first “Hualong One” was started in China in May 2015 at Fuqing (Fujian province) nuclear power plant Unit-5, followed by another at Unit-6. The first phase of Fangchenggang nuclear power plant, Units-3 & 4, in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region having “Hualong One” reactors had commenced in December 2015. EDF Energy, the French state-owned company, has placed an order in October 2015 for “Hualong One” for its planned nuclear power plant in England at Bradwell, Essex. Likewise, China and Argentina have signed an agreement in November 2015 for the construction of “Hualong One” reactors. Construction of the first unit will commence in Argentina in early 2017, whereas other is scheduled in 2019.

Opponents to Pakistan’s nuclear energy program having repeated discourses on its possible negative impact on environment simply ignore the fact that waste produced by coal-based power plants is more radioactive than that generated by nuclear power plants. A series of studies recently conducted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA (ORNL), a multi-program science & technology laboratory managed by the US Department of Energy, have concluded that estimated radiation doses ingested and inhaled by people living around coal-fired power plant were higher than doses for people living in the vicinity of nuclear power plant producing same amount of energy. In the words of Dr Dana Christensen of ORNL: “you are talking about one chance in a billion for nuclear power plants. And it is one in ten million to one in a hundred million for coal-based power plants”. Fly-ash radiant in individual’s bones was estimated by the scientists at about 18 millirem (Rem is unit of absorbed radiation dose) a year, whereas doses from nuclear power plants by contrast ranged from 3 to 6 millirem for the same period. Loss in life expectancy from one millirem dose is about 1.2 minutes, while one millirem of radiation dose is a one in 8 million risk of dying of cancer. Radiation doses monitored in food crops harvested near coal-fired power plant were 50%-200% higher than those to nuclear power plant.

The nation keenly looks forward to the completion of Kanupp-2 and Kanupp-3, in the wake of massive and prolonged electricity load-shedding countrywide, and the ever-increasing cost of energy. The generation cost of these nuclear power plants, which have 60-years life cycle, is projected to Rs 9.59/kWh levelised for supply to the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC). Apparently, the vested interests would like to deprive the nation of affordable and sustained electricity. Currently, average generation cost of the Chashma units for supply to the NTDC is Rs 6.35/kWh, whereas capacity factor is up to 90% and availability factor 90%.