Nuclear Energy in Pakistan - History

History

Professor (and later Nobel laureate) Abdus Salam, as Science Advisor to the President, persuaded President Ayub Khan, to establish Pakistan's first commercial nuclear power reactor, near Karachi. Known as Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP), the commercial power plant is a small 137 MWe CANDU reactor, a Canadian pressurized heavy water reactor.

PAEC's Parvez Butt, a nuclear engineer, was project-director. The KANUPP began its operations in 1972, and it was inaugurated by President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Munir Ahmad Khan as PAEC chairman. The KANUPP which is under international safeguards is operated at reduced power. In 1969, France's Commissariat à l'énergie atomique and United Kingdom's British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) contracted with PAEC to provide plutonium and nuclear reprocessing plants in Pakistan. Per agreement, the PAEC engineers were the lead designers of the power plants and nuclear reprocessing facilities. While the BNFL and CEA provided the funds, technical assistance and nuclear materials. The work on projects did not start until 1972, and as a result of India's Operation Smiling Buddha — a surprise nuclear test in 1974 — the BNFL cancelled the projects with PAEC. In 1974, PARR-II Reactor were commissioned, and its project directors were Munir Ahmad Khan and Hafeez Qureshi. The PARR-II is an indigenous reactor that was built under the auspices of PAEC's engineers and scientists.

In 1977, due to pressure exerted by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the CEA cancelled the projects with PAEC immediately. Without the assistance of United Kingdom and France, the PAEC engineers completed the plutonium nuclear reprocessing plant — New Labs — and the plutonium reactor — Khushab Nuclear Complex. Both power plants are commercial power plants control by PAEC. In 1989, People's Republic of China signed an agreement with Pakistan to provide 300 MWe CHASNUPP-I power plant under the IAEA safeguards. In 1990, both France and Soviet Union considered the Pakistan's request to provide the commercial nuclear power plants under the IAEA safeguards. But, after the American Ambassador to Pakistan's Robert Oakley expressed U.S. displeasure at the agreements between the Soviet Union and France, the contracts were cancelled. By the 2000, China had expanded its contract with PAEC and is currently assisting in construction of III, and IV power plants. II was completed in April 2011. Due to its growing electricity demands, the Pakistan Government ordered PAEC to set up nuclear power plants in the country. According to PAEC, the goal is to produced 8800 MW electricity by the 2030. Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani announced the Pakistan national energy policy in 2010 while the feasibility report was submitted in Prime Minister's Secretariat — the official residence of prime minister of Pakistan. The PAEC are currently planning to lead the construction of KANUPP-II nuclear power plant — a 1000 MWe power plant — and the KANUPP-III — 1000 MWe. While the commercial plants will be indigenously built, the preliminary work is put on hold as of 2009. In 2010, the Nuclear Power Fuel Complex (PNPFC) — a nuclear reprocessing power plant — was commissioned. PAEC led the construction, designing, and maintenance of the facility, while China and IAEA provided funds to the facility.