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| Fig. 1: 2022 Electricity generation by fuel source. (Image source: A. Ee) [9] |
Nuclear energy offers a cleaner and long-term solution to Pakistan's energy problems. Water is turned into steam by the heat released from a nuclear reaction (fission, fusion or nuclear decay) and this rotates a turbine to generate electricity. It is a low-carbon technology and helps reduce emission of greenhouse gases. [1] While massive upfront costs are required for building a nuclear plant just like hydroelectric energy, in 1986, Pakistan received support from China for the construction of nuclear power plants under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines. This was in an era where limited technology, supplies and support was provided to Pakistan for its nuclear program for fear of proliferation as it refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). [2]
At the time of writing, Pakistan generates about 3262 MWe net (3530 MWe gross) capacity of nuclear energy across its six operating nuclear power plants located at the Chashma and Karachi Nuclear Power Complexes. A breakdown of the total capacity is provided in Table 1. [3]
Details of each plant are provided below:
In 1991, China signed an agreement to provide its 300 MWe net (CNP-300) Qinshan-1 nuclear plant to Pakistan and that the nuclear plant be installed at Chashma, a city of Punjab. CHASNUPP-I, a 300 MWe net two-looped pressurized water reactor (PWR) under IAEA safeguards was connected to the grid on May 2000. A second 300 MWe net PWR unit, CHASNUPP-II started construction in 2005 on the same Nuclear Power Complex. This unit cost about USD 490 million and 20 million was funded by China. China loaned Pakistan about 65% of the total cost. IAEA safeguards were added to the plant, and it was connected to the grid on March 14, 2011. It was the first nuclear reactor to be commissioned after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown on March 11, 2011. [4]
In 2008, the Pakistani government announced plans to construct two new 340 MWe gross PWR units, CHASNUPP-III and CHASNUPP-IV on the same nuclear complex. Of the total USD $1.9 billion, China agreed to loan 82% of the total amount. It would also provide fuel for the reactors lifetime. Constructions of the two units began in 2011 and CHASNUPP-III (315 MWe net) was connected to the grid in 2016 and CHASNUPP-IV (313 MWe net) in 2017. Both were also placed under IAEA safeguards. [5]
In 2013, plans were made to construct two 1100 MWe gross PWR units at the Karachi Nuclear Power Complex, situated at the coastal area of Karachi. This was to meet the goal of adding 8800 MWe of nuclear energy to the national grid by 2030. The total cost of the two units was USD 9.1 billion and 82% of the total amount was financed through a loan from China. The new reactors have a new design that is based on the Hualong One. Hualong One is a Generation III pressurized water reactor. It has advanced design features to improve capacity, plant safety and operation cost. It has a three-loop design and consists of a combination of active and passive systems for plant safety. [6] Construction of the first unit was performed in 2015 and the second a year later in 2016. KANUPP-II (1017 MWe net) was connected to the grid on March 2021 and KANUPP-III (1017 MWe net) on March 2022, under IAEA safeguards. China also agreed to supply fuel for the reactors' lifetime as Pakistan is not able to buy uranium from other countries. [3,5]
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| Table 1: Total and individual amount of nuclear energy generated by Pakistan's power plants. [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
According to British Petroleum (BP) Statistical Review of World Energy 2022, Pakistan generated about 152.1 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2021. [7] This corresponds to an average power of
 |
| Fig. 2: 2010 Electricity generation by fuel source. (Image source: A. Ee) [9] |
| 152.1 × 1012 Wh y-1 24 h d-1 × 365 d y-1 |
= | 17.36 GWe |
Since 3262 MWe net capacity of nuclear energy is generated across its six operating nuclear power plants, the fraction of energy that is nuclear is
| 3.262 GWe 17.36 GWe |
= | 0.188 |
Nuclear energy now constitutes about 20% of electricity generation in Pakistan, with the rest made up by fossil fuels, hydropower and renewable energy. [8] Fig. 1 shows the breakdown of Pakistan's fuel sources. This is a steep increase from 2010, where nuclear energy constituted just 4% of electricity generation (Fig. 2). [9] Evidently, nuclear energy has been utilized by the Pakistani government to solve the country's energy problems.
The future of nuclear energy in Pakistan is promising. Very recently, Pakistan announced the construction of a 1200 MWe gross PWR unit (CHASHMA-VI), also using the Hualong One reactor at the Chashma site to meet the 8800 MWe nuclear energy goal by 2030. [10] There are also plans to construct another four more 1000 MWe nuclear power plants by 2030 in accordance with the Energy Security Plan 2005 - 2030, two at Karachi and another two at Muzaffargarh. [11,12]
© Aloysius Ee. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] Md. A. Arefin et al., "A Comprehensive Review of Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems: Status, Operation, Configuration, Benefit, and Feasibility," Front. Sustain. Cities 3, 723910 (2021).
[2] F. H. Khan, Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb (Stanford University Press, 2012), pp. 29-31, 52-61, 132-134, 193.
[3] Nuclear Power Reactors in the World, 2021 Edition," International Atomic Energy Agency, (2023).
[4] M. Schneider, A. Froggatt, and S. Thomas, "2010-2011 World Nuclear Industry Status Report," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 67, 60 (2011).
[5] A. K. Allauddin, A. Khalid, and M. M. Ali, "Pakistan-China Nuclear Energy Cooperation Emerging: Trends to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals," Pak. J. Intl. Affairs 4, No. 1, 124 (2021).
[6] J. Xing and D. Song, "HPR1000: Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor With Active and Passive Safety," Engineering 2 79 (2016.
[7] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022," British Petroleum, June 2022.
[8] S. A. Khatri et al., "An Overview of the Current Energy Situation of Pakistan and the Way Forward Towards Green Energy Implementation," Energies 16, 423(2022).
[9] Pakistan 2023," International Atomic Energy Agency, 2023.
[10] M. Ahmed, "Pakistan's Prime Minister Sharif Launches $3.5 Billion Chinese-Designed Nuclear Energy Project," Associated Press, 14 Jul 23.
[11] H. A. Siddiqui, "Nuclear Power Generation," The News International, March 2022.
[12] Z. Khan, "Nuclear Power Plants: Saviours of Pakistan's Economy and Energy," The Express Tribune, 13 Feb 23.