AS a majority of institutions attract criticism for their lacklustre performance because of various reasons and factors, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) achieves distinction by delivering on its commitments and plans, contributing a lot not only to the national security and defence but also to the overall socio-economic development.
It achieved another milestone on Friday when Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the country’s largest nuclear power plant that would add 1,100 MW of clean energy to the national grid.
The successful and timely completion of the project is a glowing tribute to the engineers, scientists, technicians and leadership of the PAEC as they worked in tandem with our Chinese friends in accomplishing a task that critics thought was a mere dream.
K-2 and K-3 were designed to give a quantum jump to the nuclear power generation capacity of the country and the project was considered to be a significant move forward in efforts of Pakistan towards energy security but some vested interests tried to scuttle progress on it on the basis of imaginary fears and apprehensions.
In fact, anti-project lobbies used different forums and tactics to advance their designs but credit goes to the management of the PAEC for presenting their case in the right technological perspective that led to creation of favourable conditions for establishment of two state-of-the-art nuclear power plants in Karachi.
This is, indeed, a tribute to the leadership qualities of PAEC Chairman Muhammad Naeem, who was assigned the coveted job in 2015 and has worked hard since then to realize all the targets given to the Commission by the national leadership including daunting challenge of increasing share of the nuclear power to the national energy mix by 8,800 MW.
It is rightly said that PAEC personnel not only put Pakistan on the map of the world as the only Muslim nuclear power producing country 49 years ago but also gave impetus to Science & Technology infrastructure for sustainable development by providing a reliable, consistent and carbon free electricity generating source to the country.
As for K-2 and K-3, a series of cold and hot functional commissioning tests related with plant operation and safety were conducted, before achieving criticality at the end of February this year and all of them proved that the plant has the latest and reliable technology, rebutting propaganda of the vested interests, which tried to create doubts about safety aspects of the design and technology of these plants.
PAEC has an impeccable record of safely running its nuclear power plants for decades and its achievements in this regard are appreciated by the global nuclear watch-dog – the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
One can understand the robust nature of safety and security standards being followed by Pakistan from the fact that during global summit on nuclear security in Vienna, attended by diplomats from around the world, Pakistan gave thorough details of ‘stringent’ nuclear security mechanisms and the country’s Nuclear Security Regime was acknowledged as the best practices Pakistan has in place for safety of its peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
The significance of K-2 and K-3 can also be gauged by the fact that previously PAEC was producing 1,400 MW of electricity through KANUPP and nuclear power plants located at Chashma but completion of these two projects would increase the capacity to 3,600 MW, which would help alleviate sufferings of the energy deficient country.
Though nuclear power plants are capital intensive, they pay in the long run in terms of being an established source of cleaner, cheaper and reliable energy.
PAEC manpower demonstrated this by successfully running Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 for a year continuously.
People of Pakistan are thankful for the time-tested friend China for its valuable assistance in developing the country’s nuclear power programme in a consistent manner.
This is one of the glowing dimensions of the bilateral relations as China is extending cooperation in nuclear power generation at a time when some other countries are refusing admission to Pakistani students in the discipline of physics, which is the worst kind of nuclear apartheid if seen in the context of what they are providing to India to sharpen its nuclear teeth.
It may also be pointed out that PAEC has an elaborate programme for application of nuclear technology to modernize the country’s health and agriculture sector and the authorities concerned ought to ensure allocation of adequate resources for realization of this cherished objective.
There are also some distressing reports about the future of planned nuclear power plants at Chashma on financial considerations but the investment is worth making to help secure economic future of the country, an option no futuristic-thinking leadership would ignore.
