Expressing concern over media reports that heavy water has started leaking from a feeder pipe of the reactor at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP), the Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) has asked the government to shut down the nuclear power plant. “It is unproductive and posing a major threat to human lives and the coastal environment of Karachi,” PPC General Secretary BM Kutty said in a statement issued on Thursday. According to the plant’s spokesman, an emergency was imposed after leakage at KANUPP started around midnight on Tuesday during maintenance checks, but it was lifted after seven hours when the leak was brought under control and no radiation or damage was reported.
The leak had developed in the primary heat transport system of the plant, which is already shut down since October 5 for repairs.
“The government has not provided any details about any radiation releasing as a result of this accident. KANUPP Director General Javed Iqbal has refused to give any details when contacted by the media, saying that the situation was reported to the head office in Islamabad,” said Kutty. “The safety of the current nuclear installations remains a serious concern because there is very little information on the security measures adopted to protect the population from any potential risk in case of mishap at any of them.”
The PPC general secretary pointed out that nuclear facilities in the country are precariously located, particularly KANUPP, which is built alongside the coast.
He said that the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission gave no reply to an earlier letter written by civil society organisations, demanding a copy of the Karachi Emergency Relief Plan in case of a nuclear disaster. “Concerns have also been raised against the authorities’ practice of dumping uranium waste near the mines in Dera Ghazi Khan. According to reports, the incidence of leukaemia is higher in that area,” he said. Kutty pointed out that a similar incident of heavy water leakage had taken place around 20 years ago at KANUPP, but the government did not provide any details about it at that time. “It is the right of public to know the factual position of the release of radiation in these cases and extent of the threat to human health.”
The PPC general secretary said that his organisation feared that such an incident would occur at KANUPP. “The radiation leaks at the two nuclear power stations- Fukushima-Daiichi and Fukushima-Daini – in Japan following a powerful 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast in last March had put the population of Japan at great risk, and should have proved to be an eye-opener for our authorities.” Kutty demanded that the government should stop the ongoing nuclear programmes and any plans of expanding the country’s current nuclear power generation capacity must be called off immediately. “The nuclear contribution to the current Pakistani total electricity supply is very limited, while the hazards it poses far outweigh its utility. According to the recent estimates, nuclear capacity represents merely 2.4 percent of the total installed capacity of 19,252MW in Pakistan.”
