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Pakistan reportedly finalizing deal to set up 6 nuclear power plants with China's help
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2012
ISLAMABAD (Kyodo): Pakistan and China are in the final stage of negotiations for a deal to set up at least six nuclear power plants at different sites in Pakistan to be commissioned by 2023, according to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission sources.
Under the proposed deal, four plants would be set up at Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and the capital of Sindh province, one would be at Sukkur in the interior of Sindh, and at least one more would be at Chashma in the Mianwaki district of Punjab province, the PAEC sources told Kyodo News.
Pakistan currently has three nuclear power plants -- an aging 137 MW one in Karachi, which is operating at half capacity as it has completed its natural life, and two 325 MW ones in Chashma supplied by China, dubbed Chashma-1 and Chashma-2.
Work is in progress on two identical plants at Chashma, dubbed Chashma-3 and Chashma-4, which China has already agreed to supply.
"We have firm plans to set up additional nuclear power plants with total capacity of 4,345 megawatts by 2023," one PAEC source said.
The sources confirmed that PAEC hopes to have installed capacity of 8,800 MW by 2030.
Nuclear power currently accounts for 700 MW of Pakistan's 18,000 MW power generation capacity, of which 12,350 MW is thermal and 4,900 MW is hydro.
The PAEC sources said land for the four planned Karachi plants has been acquired at Hawks Bay on the coast, adjacent to the megacity's existing plant.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group has disputed China's supply of the four Chashma plants to Pakistan as the deal for them was concluded after China joined the group in 2005.
The NSG ostensibly bars supply of this technology to countries like Pakistan that are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement.
Pakistan and China both maintain that the supply of nuclear power plants to Pakistan and Chinese cooperation for indigenous manufacture of nuclear power plants in Pakistan were already envisaged in a comprehensive cooperation agreement concluded in 1986.
"We have an overarching agreement between China and Pakistan which predates China joining the NSG and this cooperation will continue in the years to come for peaceful purposes under IAEA safeguards," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit, referring to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
"The world should not worry about it. Rather they should be supportive of it because it's important for our growth and stability," he said.
A senior Pakistani scientist who had taken part in the preparation of Pakistan-China Cooperation Agreement in 1986 and subsequent agreements for the two nuclear plants now operating at Chashma similarly recalled that the 1986 agreement provided a "grandfather clause" for long-term supply of nuclear power plants and cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
"A grandfather has many grandchildren," he told Kyodo News.
Pakistan reportedly finalizing deal to set up 6 nuclear power plants with China's help ~ Terminal X
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2012
ISLAMABAD (Kyodo): Pakistan and China are in the final stage of negotiations for a deal to set up at least six nuclear power plants at different sites in Pakistan to be commissioned by 2023, according to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission sources.
Under the proposed deal, four plants would be set up at Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and the capital of Sindh province, one would be at Sukkur in the interior of Sindh, and at least one more would be at Chashma in the Mianwaki district of Punjab province, the PAEC sources told Kyodo News.
Pakistan currently has three nuclear power plants -- an aging 137 MW one in Karachi, which is operating at half capacity as it has completed its natural life, and two 325 MW ones in Chashma supplied by China, dubbed Chashma-1 and Chashma-2.
Work is in progress on two identical plants at Chashma, dubbed Chashma-3 and Chashma-4, which China has already agreed to supply.
"We have firm plans to set up additional nuclear power plants with total capacity of 4,345 megawatts by 2023," one PAEC source said.
The sources confirmed that PAEC hopes to have installed capacity of 8,800 MW by 2030.
Nuclear power currently accounts for 700 MW of Pakistan's 18,000 MW power generation capacity, of which 12,350 MW is thermal and 4,900 MW is hydro.
The PAEC sources said land for the four planned Karachi plants has been acquired at Hawks Bay on the coast, adjacent to the megacity's existing plant.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group has disputed China's supply of the four Chashma plants to Pakistan as the deal for them was concluded after China joined the group in 2005.
The NSG ostensibly bars supply of this technology to countries like Pakistan that are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement.
Pakistan and China both maintain that the supply of nuclear power plants to Pakistan and Chinese cooperation for indigenous manufacture of nuclear power plants in Pakistan were already envisaged in a comprehensive cooperation agreement concluded in 1986.
"We have an overarching agreement between China and Pakistan which predates China joining the NSG and this cooperation will continue in the years to come for peaceful purposes under IAEA safeguards," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit, referring to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
"The world should not worry about it. Rather they should be supportive of it because it's important for our growth and stability," he said.
A senior Pakistani scientist who had taken part in the preparation of Pakistan-China Cooperation Agreement in 1986 and subsequent agreements for the two nuclear plants now operating at Chashma similarly recalled that the 1986 agreement provided a "grandfather clause" for long-term supply of nuclear power plants and cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
"A grandfather has many grandchildren," he told Kyodo News.
Pakistan reportedly finalizing deal to set up 6 nuclear power plants with China's help ~ Terminal X
province, one would be at Sukkur in the interior of Sindh, and at least one more would be at Chashma in the Mianwaki district of Punjab province, the PAEC sources told Kyodo News.
