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Pakistan places trust in nuclear
power
By Muddassir Rizvi
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is on the fast track to
building two more nuclear power plants, amid concerns
about the country's poorly-enforced safety laws and the
secrecy shrouding the plans for the facilities.
The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC),
the proponent of nuclear energy in the country, says
that the two plants are under government consideration
for formal approval, and construction is expected to
commence "soon".
"Nuclear energy is
environmentally friendly, cost competitive, abundantly
available and a symbol of self-reliance in a fiercely
competitive world," PAEC said in a statement, adding
that the new plants were needed to meet electricity
needs.
Once up and running, the new plants will
increase the share of nuclear power to 10 percent of the
country's total energy needs. Currently, Pakistan has
two nuclear power plants, the 84-megawatt Karachi
Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) in the southern port city
of Karachi and the 300-megawatt Chashma Nuclear Power
Plant (CHASNUPP) near the Punjab town of Mianwali.
PAEC plans to construct the new plants at the
two sites - KANUPP-II and CHASNUPP-II - as part of a
national energy strategy where the nuclear option has a
"firm footing", it says.
The location of
CHASNUPP-II, though, has stirred the same arguments
against the construction as when CHASNUPP-I was first
proposed two years ago. At that time, environmentalists
argued that since the Chashma plant would draw water
from the Chashma-Jhelum link canal and discharge it into
the Indus River, this posed a serious potential risk in
the event of an accident.
These fears still
exist today. But while the PAEC says that the
construction of the two power plants will "begin soon",
the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA)
says that it has no specific information on these
projects.
"We have not been contacted by the
PAEC for the approval of the prerequisite environmental
impact assessment [EIA] of the projects,"says Asif Shuja
Khan, the director general of Pak-EPA. According to
Pakistan's 1997 environment law, all new public and
private sector projects, including power plants, must
have their EIAs approved by either the federal or the
concerned provincial EPA.
Critics are
particularly perturbed by the secrecy and
non-transparency exhibited by PAEC, demanding public
discussion on the need for greater reliance on nuclear
energy. "They [PAEC] black out all information that
should otherwise be shared with the public," says Dr A H
Nayyar, a nuclear physicist and an anti-nuclear
activist.
Concerns about transparency arise
essentially from the fact that PAEC has also been
involved in the development of nuclear weapons. "They
[PAEC] have overlaps with the country's defense-related
nuclear and missile program," Nayyar says.
"This
is the major reason why they are always hesitant to open
up even their peaceful nuclear energy program to the
public for scrutiny, whether for safety or accounting
and auditing purposes," commented Najum Mushataq, a
former research fellow with the US-based Bulletin for
Atomic Scientists.
Mushataq is also skeptical
about the rationale advocated by PAEC in favor of
nuclear energy. "More needs to be done to utilize the
renewable energy sources. Once we have exhausted other
sources of energy, then we can consider the nuclear
option," he argued.
For instance, one official
study estimates that Pakistan uses less than 10 percent
of its water resources for energy generation. It has
around 20 oil and gas-fired power plants run by private
power producers. Apart from these, public sector firms -
the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), the
Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), KANUPP and
CHASNUPP - are involved in power generation,
transmission and distribution of electricity in the
country.
Of the nation's total power generation
capacity, WAPDA's share is 55 percent, followed by the
private sector at 31.3 percent, KESC and others at 11.2
percent and nuclear energy at 2.6 percent during 2001 to
2002. Pakistan currently has a power generation capacity
of 18,062 megawatts to serve the needs of 12.5 million
registered electricity consumers.
While PAEC
officials justify the new plants, saying that they are
necessary in view of the nation's limited hydroelectric
and fossil fuel resources and ever-rising demand for
electricity - they are tight-lipped about the costs to
be incurred by the new plants.
In their defense,
PAEC officials claim that the energy they supply to the
WAPDA for distribution is cheaper than that produced by
other energy sources, especially when compared to gas
and fired-power plants, they say. But Nayyar says this
is a non-verifiable claim, as "we don't even know what
financial allocations the PAEC gets".
The safety
aspects of nuclear power plants are also worrisome for
critics, although PAEC says that the country's safety
record is immaculate and approved by the International
Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA). The country has a
nuclear regulatory body, but its credibility has been
called into doubt.
"The Pakistan Nuclear
Regulatory Board is supposed to be an independent body
to keep an eye particularly on safety aspects of
nuclear-related sites," says Nayyar. "But we all know it
is headed by a retired PAEC official and is just an
outgrowth of the PAEC. How could it be independent?" he
asks, suggesting that its membership be expanded to
include citizens' representatives.
(Inter Press
Service)
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