Khushab reactor evacuated, as cylinder explodes

[A.Rahman]

Khushab reactor evacuated, as cylinder explodes

Updated at: 1640 PST, Tuesday, April 08, 2008

KHUSHAB: A cylinder of hydrogen phosphate gas blew up in a nuclear plant near Chawk Groat on Tuesday, the whole area atmosphere was soon permeated with poisonous gas, according to the preliminary reports.

According to sources, all the crew have been ordered to evacuate the site. Many people are reported to have fainted.

According to sources, the hydrogen phosphate is a very dangerous gas, therefore, the whole area is seen terror-stricken and people are rushing out from the area.


Khushab reactor evacuated, as cylinder explodes

 

[A.Rahman]

Two die at Pakistan nuclear plant


Khushab heavy water plant
Officials say the plant is now safe

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44550000/jpg/_44550349_khushab_203.jpg

A gas leak in Pakistan has killed two people at a heavy water plant run by the country's atomic energy agency in Punjab province, officials say.

They say that the leak at the Khushab heavy water plant happened when it was closed for annual maintenance.

It is believed to be the first fatal accident at any of the country's nuclear facility.

The main function of the plant at Khushab is the production and refinement of plutonium.

A spokesman said that an inquiry had been ordered.

Pakistan built its first nuclear power station in 1972 in Karachi with the help of Canadian experts.

But Western countries, lobbied by the US, later halted cooperation amid fears that Pakistan was secretly developing nuclear weapons.

'Precautionary measure'

"The Khushab heavy water plant was under annual maintenance and was under shutdown status," the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission said in a statement.

"All necessary steps were taken, including evacuation of personnel as a precautionary measure.

"The situation was immediately brought under control, and two workers lost their lives while controlling the incident. There is no threat to public life."

It said the leaking gas has now been burned off.

Correspondents say that the plant at Khushab is not subject to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, unlike other nuclear plants in Karachi and at Chashma in Punjab.

Pakistan conducted five nuclear weapon tests in May 1998 to become a recognised nuclear-armed state.

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Two die at Pakistan nuclear plant

 

[fatman17]

2 Die in Pakistan Nuclear Plant Accident

By PAUL ALEXANDER

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A gas leak sparked an explosion and fire Tuesday at a nuclear plant that is believed to produce enriched plutonium for Pakistan's atomic weapons program. Two workers were killed.

The Khushab heavy water plant was shut down while undergoing annual maintenance at the time, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission said. The commission evacuated the plant but assured the public that there was no risk of exposure outside the sprawling facility southeast of the capital, Islamabad.

The "situation was immediately brought under control, and two workers lost their lives while controlling the incident," the commission said.

It said the leaking gas was burned off by plant equipment and that the cause was under investigation.

The government claims Khushab produces electricity. Last year, the Washington-based Institute of Science for International Security said the plant has three reactors, including two that were still under construction last June. It cited satellite photos of the sprawling site that is under military control.

The development of the reactor and other nuclear-related activities "imply" that Pakistan has decided to "increase significantly its production of plutonium for nuclear weapons," the institute said in a report analyzing the images.

Police near the plant said they were advised by plant officials to prepare buses for a wider evacuation, but then were told they would not be needed.

Hamid Mukhtar Gondal, police chief for the district where Khushab is located, said he was told that an accidental blast was caused by cylinders of an unspecified gas.

"After the blast, the building caught fire," Gondal told The Associated Press. "Two men sustained burns and died on the way to a hospital.

"At the moment, with the help of God, everything is under control," he said. "The fire has been put out. There is no spread of poisonous gas at all."

Ghulam Muhammad, the mayor of the neighboring town of Khushab, said there was initial panic as the plant and the residential colony for workers were evacuated and roadblocks thrown up to cordon off the area.

Within three hours, plant management gave an all clear and removed the roadblocks, he said, adding he was unhappy that local officials were not immediately told of the incident.

"We only got informed of the gas leak by the employees rushing out of the colony," he said. "For public safety, they need to inform the local administration."

Pakistan, which carried out nuclear tests in 1998 to match those by archrival India, has a fairly safe nuclear safety record. But some minor incidents have occurred in recent years.

In 2003, one laboratory worker was killed and another man injured in an explosion in a liquid nitrogen tank at the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences near Islamabad.

Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad in Lahore and Sadaqat Jan and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.

 

[Neo]

How bad is this?
Is the main reactor safe?

 

[fatman17]

How bad is this?
Is the main reactor safe?

the plant reactor was shut down for annual maintenance. probably an ancillary fire but still serious enough for a evac.

 

[Joodi]

How bad is this?
Is the main reactor safe?

Yah man , no problem with the reactor, it was a fatal incident but wasn't a of matter of nuclear safety. It is an issue of industrial safety. Pakistan nuclear record is one of the best in the world, no nuclear accident has taken place in any of pakistan's nuclear facilities. PAEC follows strick safety procedure prescribed by IAEA regarding its nuclear facilities.

But khushab reacor does not come under IAEA jurisdicton.

 

[ahf_nuke1]

No harm to the Reactor it seems more like that other areas of building came under fire, probably the area where this process was taken place these tanks are usually used for reprocessing so they must have separate facility inside building for that and it seems that part of building must have suffered.

 

[nightcrawler]

Salamz
This what happens when you usually import items from China rather than German & particularly Russia I hope another Chernobyl nuclear melt-down never occur in PAk