Pakistan Nuclear Energy Developments

[Neo]

Pakistan to make nuclear fuel for power reactors​

(Kyodo) _ Pakistan's most controversial nuclear facility, Khan Research Laboratories that provided the core for six nuclear tests in May 1998, will soon be employed to enrich uranium for fuel to be used by Pakistan's nuclear power plants, a reliable source well-versed with Pakistan's nuclear program has said.

The source said a facility to fabricate enriched uranium fuel is under construction at Kundian in the Mianwali district in Punjab, about 175 kilometers south of Islamabad, and once it is completed it would need 3 percent enriched uranium to fabricate fuel for Chinese-aided nuclear power plants and indigenous power plants being planned by Pakistan.

Pakistan is operating a 300-magawatt nuclear plant based on the Pressurized Water Reactor system, another Chinese-aided plant is under construction at the same site and Pakistan has decided to start indigenous manufacture of PWR nuclear power plants.

Official sources said agreements for Chinese-aided nuclear power plants had envisaged that China should supply the first five loadings of fuel, after which Pakistan would make its own fuel.

PWR nuclear power plants are fueled by uranium enriched to 3 percent, which can only be done at KRL, which is currently exclusively used for enriching uranium to a weapons grade level of 90 percent.

Pakistan is already producing natural uranium fuel for the 137-MW heavy water reactor at Karachi Nuclear Power Plant.

However, officials pointed out that enriched uranium fuel for PWRs is difficult to fabricate compared to natural uranium fuel.

As an example, the Karachi plant's fuel is in the form of bundles about half a meter in length while the fuel rod for PWRs is several meters long and needs strict supervision and specifications.

KRL has been at the heart of Pakistan's controversial nuclear program, which was based on enriched uranium and provided cores for the nuclear tests carried out in May 1998.

Pakistan has also completed a second plutonium route for making nuclear weapons by setting up a military reactor at Khushab in southern Punjab where two more plants are under construction.

Official sources said that as Pakistan's requirements for production of enriched uranium fuel will grow in coming years for the Chinese-aided PWRs and Pakistan's own indigenous plant, KRL would be increasingly used to enrich uranium up to 3 percent for use in the fuel fabrication facility.

KRL was founded and headed until March 2001 by disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and has been geared toward the production of weapons grade enriched uranium.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070626/kyodo/d8q07ja80.html

 

[Neo]

Pakistan to manufacture nuclear power plants​

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has decided to embark on the indigenous manufacture of 300-megawatt commercial nuclear power plants to meet growing energy needs, reliable official sources have said.

They said Pakistan decided to go for indigenous manufacture of commercial nuclear power plants because of the poor response of the United States and the Nuclear Supplier Group to requests for help in the civilian nuclear energy program on the pattern of the 2004 India-U.S. nuclear deal.

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/410526

 

[Neo]

Pakistan to manufacture nuclear power plants​

(Kyodo) _ Pakistan has decided to embark on the indigenous manufacture of 300-megawatt commercial nuclear power plants to meet growing energy needs, reliable official sources have said.

They said Pakistan decided to go for indigenous manufacture of commercial nuclear power plants because of the poor response of the United States and the Nuclear Supplier Group to requests for help in the civilian nuclear energy program on the pattern of the 2004 India-U.S. nuclear deal.

"We have taken many steps and more are on the anvil to start indigenous manufacture of 300-MW pressurized water reactor," the sources said.

They pointed out that an Engineering and Design Organization has been set up to design and develop a standard for indigenous nuclear power plants and privatization of the Chinese-aided Heavy Mechanical Complex, or HMC, was reversed by the government when it was pointed out that Pakistan was capable of manufacturing components for nuclear power plants.

HMC can manufacture several key components of thermal power plants which could also be used in the nuclear power plants and Pakistan has also set up HMC-3 exclusively to contribute in the indigenous nuclear power plants.

Official sources pointed out that Pakistan's "Energy Security Plan" envisaged 8,500 MW of nuclear energy by 2030, which would require setting up 22 nuclear power plants of 300-mw capacity if the target is to be met.

"Sites for eight nuclear power plants have already been selected," the official said and indicated that a consortium of private and public industrial units would be set up to undertake manufacture of the nuclear power plants.

Pakistan has set up a 300-MW nuclear power plant at Chashma (Chashnupp-1) in the Mianwali district in southern Punjab with Chinese assistance and a second plant is under construction at the same site.

Although Chashnupp-1 and 2 were turnkey contracts, Pakistan contributed up to 30 percent of their components, which could be increased to 70 percent.

"No country can manufacture a nuclear power plant 100 percent all by itself. We cannot produce reactor shells, several pumps and the pressure vessels for which we will have to develop additional capacity or enter into a licensing agreement," an official said.

Pakistan has already commissioned a 50-MW indigenous heavy water reactor at Khushab that is yielding plutonium for the nuclear weapons program.

Two additional reactors of same capacity are believed to be under construction at the same site.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070626/kyodo/d8q07bq80.html

 

[Neo]

Nuclear power plants of 1280MW: Pakistan to seek financing from China​

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to seek major chunk of financing from China for setting up four new nuclear power units of 1280MW to bridge gap between supply and demand, sources told Daily Times on Tuesday.

Sources said that Pakistan would place request before Chinese authorities during the upcoming visit of President Pervez Musharraf to China.

Sources said that proposed nuclear units of 320MW each would be set up to generate 1280MW power by nuclear resources under the vision 2030. Two units of 320MW each will be set up in Chashma and two units will be established in Karachi.

They said that Finance Ministry is working on the process of getting financing from different countries including China and it would also chalk out the strategy to generate financing through joint venture by different countries.

The first phase project of Chashma Nuclear Plant was commissioned in September 2000. Chinese Company is already working on second phase of Chashma nuclear power plant and in May 2004,Pakistan and China signed a contract to jointly build the second phase project of Chashma Nuclear Power Plant. China agreed to provide $350 million credit and will complete the project in 2011.

They said that the current installed electricity generation capacity stands at 19,400MW that would be increased to 162,590MW by 2030 as the energy consumption would rise to 7 fold by 2030.Government has planned a major shift to coal, nuclear and renewable resources to achieve the set target of electricity generation.

At present Pakistan is mainly depending on hydel power generation that has dropped to 2000 MW power due to water shortages in the country. Pakistan is now looking towards wind, coal, and nuclear and solar resources to increase the power generation. Pakistan is said to face around 1400 MW power shortfall constantly by 2010.

At present the country is facing a power shortfall of 1500MW to 2000MW.The power crisis emerged as the private sector has not increased its power generation capacity and new Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were not set up for many years.

Sources said that Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) authorities have given briefing to the Prime Minister about the plan of adding 2200 MW power to the current power system in one year. Premier has directed the concerned authorities to carry out the plan. Prime Minister has also directed the public sector also to go side by side with the private sector for setting up power plants so that the dependence on the private sector could be minimised.

On the other hand, PEPCO would add 1100MW power to the current power system by rental plants during current calendar year. 450MW by rental plants would be added by June 2008 and the rest power would be added by December 2008.The capacity of current existing power generation system would be enhanced by 309MW during 2008.

Two IPPs that include Saif and Orient would add around 500MW power to the current power system. Saif IPP would start providing power supply by July whereas Orient would supply power by October 2008.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

China to expedite delivery of N-plants: Indigenous capability being pursued​

By Ihtasham ul Haque


ISLAMABAD, May 8: Islamabad and Beijing will set up a corporation shortly to build nuclear- and coal-based power plants in Pakistan. The decision to form the ‘China-Pakistan Power Plant Corporation’ was taken during President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to China last month.

Sources said China had promised to help meet Pakistan’s nuclear energy requirements of 8,800 megawatts by 2030 by expediting the delivery of six plants of 300MW each. Earlier, the country had assisted Pakistan in setting up the Chashma-1 and Chashma-2 plants of the same capacity.

The sources said that several joint working groups and studies were being undertaken by the two countries to speed up cooperation in different fields, particularly the energy sector.

“But side by side, Pakistan is building a $1.2 billion facility to develop capability to manufacture full-cycle nuclear fuel and power plants,” they said.They said the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) would establish the Pakistan Nuclear Power Fuel Complex (PNPFC) to attain 100 per cent indigenous capability to manufacture pressurised water reactors (PWR) and nuclear power plants.

Pakistan had taken the decision to set up the complex in the face of nuclear suppliers’ denial of the technology to all except favored ones. They cited as example the US deal with India on civil nuclear technology sales.

The complex will comprise a chemical processing plant, a fuel fabrication plant (FFP), nuclear power fuel testing project and Seamless Tube Plant-1 (STP-1).

Its prime objective is to set up an infrastructure for the production of PWR fuel, including essential input materials. Being an indigenous facility, it will assure regular supply of nuclear fuel to pressurised water reactors and nuclear power plants.

The plan will cost over Rs36.1 billion.

The chemical processing plant, which will cost Rs29 billion, is meant to produce nuclear fuel and structural materials, natural UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) gas from the commercially available yellow cake (U3O8) and for the conversion of depleted UF6 gas into depleted uranium metal.

The plant will act as road-map for fulfilling the requirement of one-third of fuel needed for nuclear plants planned to be constructed by 2030.

Initially, the PAEC is expected to construct six to eight nuclear power plants indigenously.

The fuel fabrication plant will be built at Rs4 billion to develop the capability for indigenous fabrication of fuel assembly for fulfilling the major share of the fuel requirements for existing and future nuclear plants.

At present, the government imports nuclear fuel from China for the 300MW Chashma Nuclear Power Plant-2. The fabrication cost is around $400 million and the proposed FFP will help achieve self-reliance of PWR fuel fabrication technology.

The nuclear power fuel testing project will be built at a cost of Rs1.2 billion. Its main objective is to establish experimental infrastructures to qualify the indigenously produced fuel system, covering its mechanical, thermal, hydraulic and functional requirement aspects. It will help attain the testing and analysis capability for nuclear fuel systems and resolve manufacturing, design and safety issues.

The Seamless Tube Plant-1 will be built at a cost of Rs3.5 billion and its prime objective is to set up an infrastructure for the production of structural materials (Zr-4/SS tubes and rods) to be used by the fuel fabrication plant.
China to expedite delivery of N-plants: Indigenous capability being pursued -DAWN - Top Stories; May 09, 2008

Work on the development of a lot of the infrastructure mentioned in this article was initiated sometime ago, but it is encouraging to read that everything is still on track.

It would have been better if we had managed to procure 1000MW NPP's (which Pakistan did inquire about - apparently with no luck), so in that context developing an indigenous capability to produce NPP's is even more significant.

 

[fatman17]

it is absolutely vital that we persue this initiative for civil nuclear power generation. the chinese have the expertise for building 300MW nuclear PPs and we should persue with this objective. 6-8 300MW PP will provide 1800-2400MW of energy when they come on line. i am not sure how long it takes to construct/build one 300MW PP (maybe 4-5 years) but if we decide to put this initiative on a fast track with the same zeal and determination as our military program, then we can be successful. this will certainly open the market for civilian, electrical and nuclear engineers by providing them with jobs. the question is do we have the infrastructure (Engg universities) to fill the jobs required for such a ambitious venture.

 

[IceCold]

This is very exciting to read and even more exciting to know that we are on track. And if everything goes as plan, we would achieve the capability of being self sufficent in this field and also it will give us enough enrich material to easily increase our nuclear stock pile. I wonder what will be the reactions of the americans once we get this far? I mean they dont give us a damn thing related to nuclear and then they have the audacity to tell us not to increase our current stock pile. What the bloody hell.

 

[khanz]

great news !

 

[solid snake]

Why are they building only 300MW power plants? That is practically nothing compared to the demand all across Pakistan. A handful of 300MW powerplants won't help much, maybe for 5 years, then what?

The smallest nuclear power plant in the US is 400 something MW.

 

[fatman17]

Why are they building only 300MW power plants? That is practically nothing compared to the demand all across Pakistan. A handful of 300MW powerplants won't help much, maybe for 5 years, then what?

The smallest nuclear power plant in the US is 400 something MW.

i think the next step up is 1000MW and the chinese have so far not mastered the skills required for a 1000MW PP, hence the 300MW PPs.(pls correct me but i read this somewhere)

 

[ahf_nuke1]

We should not install 300Mwe its old technology we should go for at least 700Mwe. And 300Mwe will cost more troubles than solutions putting 300Mwe reactors will take more money and maintenance than 700Mwe. Should go for Japanese technology if possible.

 

[Neo]

Why are they building only 300MW power plants? That is practically nothing compared to the demand all across Pakistan. A handful of 300MW powerplants won't help much, maybe for 5 years, then what?

The smallest nuclear power plant in the US is 400 something MW.

i think the next step up is 1000MW and the chinese have so far not mastered the skills required for a 1000MW PP, hence the 300MW PPs.(pls correct me but i read this somewhere)

China has the know-how to build bigger reactors but the export model is restricted to 300-350MW capacity and thats what we built in Chashma and got full ToT.
Expansion is domestic nuclear infrastructure is restricting China to export larger reactors since there's a shortage of trained staff to meet local demand.

Khushab Reactor is 90% Pakistani design, its an experimental Pu reactor. Its designed to be easily modified to 10 fold its size and capacity, just look at the diameter of the territory in the pictures.
Second reactor in Khushab which is under construction is believed to be a 300MW PU reactor.

Satellite photograph obtained by ABC News reveals Pakistan is nearing completion of a third, previously unknown plutonium production reactor, suggesting Pakistan may be planning to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal.

The image, taken on June 3, indicates the new reactor is a replica of a second heavy water reactor, also under construction, at Khushab, approximately 109 miles south of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

The third reactor is located a few hundred meters to the north of the second. The original reactor at the site began operations in 1998.

According to Albright, construction of the third reactor has been especially rapid. In the GeoEye image from August 2006, only minimal ground excavation is visible.

Pakistan's facilities at Khushab are not subject to safeguard inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The existing reactor at Khushab is known to produce plutonium for Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.

Google Image resultaat voor http://blogs.abcnews.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/21/new_photos_show_mn.jpg

 

[maqsad]

The question that comes to my mind is how much will Uranium and Plutonium cost in 2020 and 2030? If everyone rushes to build nuclear reactors then the demand will go up and so will the price. Iran and Afghanistan have Uranium Ore in their mountains but does Pakistan even have enough local Ore to justify the cost effectiveness of a dozen 300 MW nuke plant? Maybe more attention, more rapid attention, should be given to developing the indigenous coal recourses and figuring out how to produce fuel from it with the least possible pollution. In fact 100 years ago all trains used to run on coal so at least all the trains in pakistan can run on free fuel.

The people managing the economy of pakistan seem to have holes in their brains or something. Oil = $125/barrel. Coal = free. Coal technology and engines etc is even older than oil so what is stopping these people from tapping all the coal? Even a ten year old can figure out what to do next. The forex reserves are dropping by between 5% and 10% every month due to oil but these people just sit there and sit there and watch everything implode.

 

[ztauseef]

I second you. Pakistan need to do something about their coal reserves. This is free energy resource and untouched.

 

[Neo]

The question that comes to my mind is how much will Uranium and Plutonium cost in 2020 and 2030? If everyone rushes to build nuclear reactors then the demand will go up and so will the price. Iran and Afghanistan have Uranium Ore in their mountains but does Pakistan even have enough local Ore to justify the cost effectiveness of a dozen 300 MW nuke plant?

Islamabad has prepared a $600 million extensive plan for exploring and mining uranium deposits in the country to fuel future nuclear power plants. Informed sources told Dawn that uranium deposits so far discovered in 'Siwalik rocks' in some parts of central Punjab were of low grade. However, by applying new mining technique, good quality uranium could be produced at a competitive rate with a view to progressively developing the uranium mining sector. The mineral sector is required to produce 350 tons of yellow cake (U3O8) per year by 2015 for meeting one-third requirements of the planned NPPs. The mining of uranium will be undertaken at three sites -- Bannu Basin, Suleman Range-3 and Suleman Range-4 in Dera Ghazi Khan -- to produce the required fuel for NPPs. Through these NPPs, the government wants to produce 8,800 MW of electricity by 2030. (Dawn March 1, 2007)

On June 24, 2004, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) of the Planning Commission has approved a uranium resources exploration project, which will cost Rs614.1 million (US$ 11 million). The project is "to ensure indigenous supply of uranium against abrupt suspension of such foreign supplies in the future". (Dawn July 11, 2004)