Pakistan’s third 300 MW nuclear power plant becomes operational

Pakistan’s third nuclear electric power plant went operational Thursday, pumping another 300 MW into the national grid in a bid to help meet country’s growing energy demand and cut down the shortfall.
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani inaugurated the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-1 (CHASNUPP-2), located near Chashma Barrage on the left bank of River Indus, 32 KMs south of Mianwali City and, 280 KMs south-west of Islamabad.
Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, Acting Speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi, Chairman Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Dr Ansar Parvez accompanied the Prime Minister. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shamim Wyne and Pakistan’s ambassador to China Masood Khan were also present.
The construction on the Pressurized Water Reactor, built with the Chinese assistance, began on Dec 28, 2005 and was connected to the electricity grid on March 14, 2011. Being operational from today (May 12), the plant has a net capacity of 300 MW, and a gross capacity is 325 MW.
With the Chasnupp-2 operational the country’s nuclear energy generation would rise to 725 megawatts. Current nuclear power generation stands at a mere 2.8 percent of electricity generated in the country.
The IAEA Board of Governors had unanimously approved the Safeguards Agreement between Pakistan and IAEA in respect of CHASHMA-2 nuclear power in November 2006. Pakistan ‘s two research reactors (PARR-I & PARR2) and two nuclear power plants (KANUPP & CHASHMA-1) are already under the IAEA safeguards. CHASNUPP-2 is part of Pakistan’s “Energy Security Plan”, that envisages an increase in nuclear power generation from the current 425 MWe to 8800 MWe by the year 2030 to meet country’s growing energy demands.
Pakistan had termed the agreement with IAEA a success for Pakistan and recognition of its nonproliferation commitments.
Pakistan has a small nuclear power program, with 725 MWe capacity, but plans to increase this substantially. The country’s first Canadian pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) at Karachi – KANUPP, with a gross capacity of 137 MWe is generating net 125 MWe and is under international safeguards.
The second unit is Chashma-1 (CHASNUPP-1) in Punjab, a 325 MWe (300 MWe net) 2-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) has been supplied by China’s CNNC under safeguards. The main part of the plant was designed by Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI) and it started operations in May 2000. It also has a design life of 40 years.
Work on the Chashma-3 and Chashma-4 reactors with 300 MWe each is also under way and would nearly double this capacity, adding another 600 megawatts to the grid.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Power Reactor Information System there are 443 nuclear power reactions in operation, with a total installed capacity of over 375 GW(e) around the world.