Featured K-2 nuclear power plant connected to grid

[[--Leo--]]

Yea Pakistan doesn't have nuclear knowledge that's why we were able to build nuclear bombs
We were able to create our own fuel for KANUPP after Canada banned it. We didn't have knowledge that's why we were able to build plutonium enrichment reactors. We didn't have knowledge that's why we were able to build 4 nuclear reactors at chashma. Definitely don't have knowledge...

If we had the knowledge why not public it make it available for the civilians.

 

[SD 10]

Not in this case. The spent fuel will be stored per IAEA safeguards from what I understand.

Separation of the civilian and military nuclear programs and complying with IAEA safeguards and best practices is necessary for Pakistan to continue making a case for NSG membership and have continued international cooperation in the civilian nuclear power sector.

I believe even the Chinese reactor is based on a French design (with improvements).

Pakistan's limited resources have been directed into the nuclear weapons program.

so a question..... where do we get fuel for our Nuclear bombs?

 

[fitpOsitive]

K-2 nuclear power plant connected to grid

This photo shows construction work taking place on the K-2 and K-3 nuclear power plants. — Photo courtesy PAEC website

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) on Thursday announced that it had connected the much-awaited 1,100MW Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 (K-2) to the national grid.
In a statement, the PAEC termed it a ‘Pakistan Day’ gift to the nation. It said the nuclear power plant (NPP) had achieved criticality at the end of February and was undergoing certain safety tests and procedures before it could finally be connected to the national grid.
The loading of nuclear fuel onto the plant was started on December 1, 2020 after getting clearance from the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

The PAEC pointed out that K-2 is the first nuclear power plant in Pakistan with a generation capacity of 1,100MW and its addition to the national grid will “surely help improve the economy of the country”.

K-2 is one of the two similar under-construction nuclear power plants located near Karachi and will be inaugurated for commercial operation by the end of May this year.

The other one, K-3, is also in completion phase and is expected to be operational by the end of this year.

The PAEC is now running six NPPs in the country — two located in Karachi and four at Chashma in Mianwali district. Earlier, the collective generation capacity of all PAEC-operated nuclear power plants was around 1,400MW.
The coming online of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 will nearly double the generation capacity of nuclear power plants in the country, substantially improving the overall share of nuclear power in the energy mix.

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Muhammad Naeem congratulated Member Power Saeedur Rehman and his team on this great achievement.

K-2 nuclear power plant connected to grid

In a statement, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has termed the plant a ‘Pakistan Day’ gift to the nation.

www.dawn.com

Why so many nuclear plants near a big population? And these power plant throw their hot water directly into sea thus causing a large scale sea life deaths.
I don't get this obsession with nuclear, and that too that near that large population of Karachi....

 

[Abdulrehman 2978]

If we had the knowledge why not public it make it available for the civilians.

If civil government had made it in the past it our reactors would have been a global threat thanks to PPP and PMLN political employment of unqualified and uneducated party members.

 

[Path-Finder]

what does this vedick find so amusing?

 

[niaz]

Even though China had acquired nuclear technology with the help of the Russians; Civilian nuclear power technology has had a lot of help from the West. Reagan Administration signed a nuclear co-operation agreement with China in 1985. Under this agreement, China acquired the third-generation nuclear power generation Westinghouse APR-1000 Nuclear power reactors. Hence the West may not be offering nuclear technology to Pakistan directly Pakistan has indirectly benefited from the Western nuclear Technology via China.

The K-2 power plant has the Chinese Hualong Reactor which is a derivation of the French ME310 power plant acquired by China in 1993. However my hats off to the Chinese engineers who have managed to master third-generation nuclear power technology in a very short time.

“U.S. nuclear commerce with China has expanded in the past decade. On February 28, 2005, Westinghouse submitted an initial bid to sell four nuclear power reactors to China, as supported by the Bush Administration. In Beijing in December 2006, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding that granted the deal to Westinghouse. The first four Westinghouse reactors under the deal are now being constructed, with six more planned and as many as 30 more proposed.”

Full article at https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33192.html

Finally, designing & building a nuclear bomb is quite different from designing & building a nuclear power plant. Indians conducted the first nuclear test in 1974, but when the US offered Indian to provide state of the art civilian nuclear technology in exchange for getting out IPI deal, Indians accepted without hesitation

Pakistan does not have the technical know-how to design & build a combined cycle gas turbine power plant or a supercritical coal-fired power plant. We are even obliged to import tank engines from Ukraine for the Al Khalid tank. It is okay to be patriotic and be proud of our nuclear bomb, but let us not exaggerate our nuclear expertise.

 

[khansaheeb]

K-2 nuclear power plant connected to grid

This photo shows construction work taking place on the K-2 and K-3 nuclear power plants. — Photo courtesy PAEC website

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) on Thursday announced that it had connected the much-awaited 1,100MW Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 (K-2) to the national grid.
In a statement, the PAEC termed it a ‘Pakistan Day’ gift to the nation. It said the nuclear power plant (NPP) had achieved criticality at the end of February and was undergoing certain safety tests and procedures before it could finally be connected to the national grid.
The loading of nuclear fuel onto the plant was started on December 1, 2020 after getting clearance from the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

The PAEC pointed out that K-2 is the first nuclear power plant in Pakistan with a generation capacity of 1,100MW and its addition to the national grid will “surely help improve the economy of the country”.

K-2 is one of the two similar under-construction nuclear power plants located near Karachi and will be inaugurated for commercial operation by the end of May this year.

The other one, K-3, is also in completion phase and is expected to be operational by the end of this year.

The PAEC is now running six NPPs in the country — two located in Karachi and four at Chashma in Mianwali district. Earlier, the collective generation capacity of all PAEC-operated nuclear power plants was around 1,400MW.
The coming online of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 will nearly double the generation capacity of nuclear power plants in the country, substantially improving the overall share of nuclear power in the energy mix.

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Muhammad Naeem congratulated Member Power Saeedur Rehman and his team on this great achievement.

K-2 nuclear power plant connected to grid

In a statement, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has termed the plant a ‘Pakistan Day’ gift to the nation.

www.dawn.com

It's a great achievement but we shouldn't build too many nuke plants as disposing of the waste material is a huge problem. We need to stay focused on renewal energy, and setup terra watt solar and wind farms. The mighty Indus river and tributaries can have hydro power generators inserted for local electricity needs. In these modular turbines are driven by the water flow of the river.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Congrats to Pakistan step towards focus on energy independence
Opens gateway for Electric Transport in Sindh

a) Electric Buses
b) Electric Trains
c) Possibly Electric Mini RickShaws

And abundant Energy for Industrial Production

Would be nice to see Pakistan focus on fixing the Electric Transport Wires next in order to transport energy more efficiently across regions

Next generation wires / grids are able to conserve 40-50% more during the transport phase , if we can only upgrade our wires and support infrastructure for electricity next

We have 30-40 major Cities , if a Company is picked up upgrade wiring across the city it will take ample years for such upgrade to complete but it will ensure the power generated is efficiently distributed and used and not wasted while transportation phases.

 

[HAIDER]

Why so many nuclear plants near a big population? And these power plant throw their hot water directly into sea thus causing a large scale sea life deaths.
I don't get this obsession with nuclear, and that too that near that large population of Karachi....

It is recommended , in case of disaster to cool down the reactor. By placing the platform on an area with a depth of at least 100 meters, the sea water absorbs the movements of the sea floor and protects the plant from earthquakes and tsunamis. The sea can also be an infinite source of cooling water in case of an emergency.

 

[BoggedDown]

Success of new nuclear reactor suggests China ahead of European rivals

Nuclear power’s future will depend on whether the recent on-time construction of the Hualong One reactor can be sustained in future projects, and whether it can establish a good safety record, energy experts said.

www.scmp.com

Some important point from the above linked new:


Four units were put into operations in 2018 and 2019 by CGN Power and China National Nuclear Power four to five years later than their original targets, resulting in tens of billions of yuan in extra costs. Two others developed by China Power Investment Corp went online in 2018 and 2019, as well.

A third-generation plant in Finland suffered from billions of euros in cost overruns, with commercial operations expected to start next year after more than 12 years of delays.

Another such facility in France will not start operating until at least 2023 – a decade behind its original target – and its construction costs might exceed its original budget by €9 billion, according to World Nuclear News.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

so a question..... where do we get fuel for our Nuclear bombs?

Kahuta (Weapons Grade Uranium)

Khushab & Chashma (Plutonium)

ISIS has decent open source information on Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. Not saying it is comprehensive or entirely accurate, but a good starting point.

Pakistan | isis-reports | Institute for Science and International Security

ISIS is a non-profit, non-partisan institution providing public knowledge of nuclear proliferation and international security.

isis-online.org

 

[Kabira]

more capacity payments?

 

[maverick1977]

Fantastic news. At 1100MW, that is a serious beast.

Wonder if there are any strategic aspects here as well apart from just electricity production.

if this was not under IAEA regulations, then pakistan wouldve got roughly 150kgs of plutonium as a bi product, enought for 30, 20kili tons Nukes...

 

[ZAMURD]

more capacity payments?

they will come online in 2022-23?? what would be the effect??

 

[niaz]

It is recommended , in case of disaster to cool down the reactor. By placing the platform on an area with a depth of at least 100 meters, the sea water absorbs the movements of the sea floor and protects the plant from earthquakes and tsunamis. The sea can also be an infinite source of cooling water in case of an emergency.

For the record, everyone not familiar with nuclear technology must understand that a commercial-type power reactor simply cannot under any circumstances explode like a nuclear bomb primarily because the fuel is made up of LEU ( Low enriched uranium) which contains no more than about 20% U235. Whereas one needs to enrich nearly 4 times as many times to make an atomic bomb (typically about 90%).

The main safety concern has therefore always been of an uncontrolled release of radioactive material, leading to contamination and consequent radiation exposure off-site. This would occur in the event of an accident involving a major loss of cooling resulting in the reactor core melt.

Thus far there have been four major core meltdown accidents.

• The Three Mile Island (USA 1979) where the reactor was damaged but radiation was contained and there were no adverse health or environmental consequences.
• Chernobyl (Ukraine 1986) where the destruction of the reactor by steam explosion and fire killed two people and another 28 from radiation poisoning within three months.
• Fukushima Daiichi (Japan 2011) where four reactors were written off after being damaged by the loss of cooling due to a huge tsunami. However even though nearly 20, 000 were killed by the tsunami, no deaths or serious injuries occurred due to radiation.

The first power reactor (Obinsk Nuclear Power Plant, Russia) started in 1954 and now about 440 nuclear power plants (excluding research reactors) are in operation in about 30 countries. Three major accidents over a 56 years period prove beyond doubt that nuclear power is safe. Nevertheless, understandably nuclear safety is of primary concern to all residents of the region where the plant is located. To this effect, International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) has issued a set of guidelines.

https://www.iaea.org/publications/11147/industrial-safety-guidelines-for-nuclear-facilities

Since the above is a voluminous read; kindly permit me to describe the nuclear reactor operation and its safety mechanism in very simple terms.

The fission takes place when a free neutron hits the nucleus of a fissile atom such as U-235 causing the uranium to split into two smaller atoms called fission fragments and release more neutrons. Which in turn causes more fissions starting a self-sustaining Chain Reaction generating a lot of heat which is then converted to electric power.

In an atomic bomb, an uncontrolled chain reaction takes place. but in a nuclear reactor the rate of the chain reaction controlled by absorbing the excess neutrons in the rods made of neutron-absorbing materials such as Boron, Actinides (metals with 89 to 103 atomic number), etc. which are inserted inside the reactor chamber to the desired length to control the rate of chain reaction and to the complete length when one wants to shut down the reactor.

The most commonly used safety mechanism of the nuclear power reactors is called ‘Scram.’
Whenever there is a loss of coolant due to seismic activity, or due to some malfunction, or manually for whatever reason, the Scram causes the control rods to suddenly drop to maximum length stopping the nuclear fission altogether by absorbing all the neutrons. However, considerable heat continues to be generated by the radioactive decay of the fission products in the fuel. For this, a high-pressure cooling injection system is also usually installed.

In some cases, an Automatic Depressurization System is installed. This consists of a series of valves that open to vent steam several feet under the surface of a large pool of liquid water.

From the above one should not get the impression that nuclear power is a simple piece of machinery. Actually, the nuclear power plant is a very complex and sophisticated installation and requires a team of highly trained and qualified engineers to operate & maintain.