The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday barred Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) from commencing work on twin nuclear power plants in Karachi without adhering to the environmental laws.
Headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, a division bench also issued notice to PAEC and Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) chairmen, Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa)’s director general, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pepa)’s chairman, and Environmental and Alternative Energy Department Sindh to file comments on a petition by November 11.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Dr Pervaiz Amirali Hoodbhoy and others who had approached the court challenging Sepa’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) report that accorded its approval to establishment of two nuclear power plants in Karachi.
The counsel for petitioners submitted that PAEC had started preparing the site for two large nuclear power plants in Karachi namely K-2 and K-3 and each of these reactors will produce approximately 1,100 megawatt power.
He said the twin nuclear reactors would be designed and built by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). These reactors will be based on a design know as the ACP-1000. He said these types of reactors were not even operating in China as they only existed on the papers. This type of rectors will be used for the first time in Karachi.
He said the safety precautions which were required to be adopted by authorities were still unclear and uncertain posing serious threat to health and life of the people of the city.
The counsel said that nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011 and Ukraine’s Chernobyl in 1986 had raised serious concerns about the safety measures and required large-scale evacuation to save the people from deadly radioactivity blown from the nuclear plant. He told the judges that Karachi, which was densely populated, lacks infrastructure for mass evacuation in case of possible nuclear accident.
He stated that due to intensity of Fukushima approximately 1,50,000 people living in close proximity to the nuclear reactors were evacuated, adding that radiation contaminated the land to distances of over 30 km and food and water was found contaminated at distances of 250km.
The counsel submitted that PAEC had approached the Sepa for its approval on the project. Subsequently, it issued environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the project while approving it. He argued that the EIA report was issued without complying with provisions of related environment laws as no public hearing was held regarding suitability of the site for the nuclear plants in Karachi.
Therefore, he requested the court to declare as illegal Sepa’s approval to the project and direct authorities to conduct public hearing and enlighten people of Karachi about the project before approving it.
This is an age of information and accountability so nothing can be hide out. PAEC is long been working with nuclear and its has a flawless track record. The respective authority knows its responsibility very well. That is why they have done a complete research which covers all the technical and human issues before any forward move. Its nuclear which needs complete scrutiny before any operational move.
Yes, We learn a lesson from the past three events of nuclear disasters/ accidents. The ACP 1000 encompasses with many additional layers to avoid any kind of accidental radioactivity release. We are the witnesses of nuclear disasters and learned mechanisms to avoid any kind of mishap in our country Pakistan.
The first and the foremost environmental concern concerning the risk of natural disaster i.e., earthquake and tsunami risk for the K-II/K-III site is completely baseless. Many technical studies have been carried out for the site to ensure that the plant would survive the largest tsunami that can be expected in the region. The maximum predicted earthquake could produce a ground acceleration of 0.2g, while the plant has been designed to withstand a ground acceleration of 0.3g, which provides an additional very large safety margin. Similarly, the best technical analyses have indicated that the highest tsunami height expected at Karachi is about 2.8 m above Mean Sea Level (MSL), while the K-II/K-III ground level is 12 m above MSL.
Environmental and location survey reports are already have been cleared by the Karachi establishment, even the road routes were also cleared that construction will not affect those routes. Besides, the nuclear reactors that are being imported by the PAEC are safe with extra features attached to them and they can resist the earthquake of more than 8 magnitude. Pakistan is already going through some serious energy crises and the nuclear power is the only long lasting corruption free source. SHC should take this decision back and let lights back in Karachi.
Pakistan needs energy, nuclear energy is only safe environmental friendly option for us. I fail to understand why the SHC restrained PAEC from the work at nuclear plant site. The SHC should have at least asked for a response from PAEC before taking a decision. Fossil fuels and coal are not viable options for us, neither is solar or wind as they both require fossil fuels to run. I fail to understand what Hoodhboy and Chinoy would have us do? Burn wood? We are an energy starved nation and if we want to improve our economy to get on the path of becoming a developed nation, we need to resolve our energy crises first. Nuclear is our best bet. And as far as I can tell from news sources, PAEC has met all environmental requirements, details are available on their website. There is nothing to hide, there is no negative impact on the environment or local population. We have been running two nuclear power plants in Karachi for the past 40 years, without any negative impact or environment or incident, did SHC, Chinoy, and Hoodhboy forget this?
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