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Progress at Pakistan’s Karachi nuclear power plant
20 April 2020


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The outer containment dome of the K2 reactor’s nuclear island of the Karachi nuclear power plant in Pakistan was capped on 10 April. [Photo/CNNC]


China National Nuclear Corporation announced that concreting of the outer dome of the double-layer containment building at Pakistan's Karachi 2 has been completed.

The first two exported Chinese-designed Hualong One reactors being built at the Karachi site are scheduled for commercial operation in 2021 and 2022.

The last layer of concrete for Karachi 2's outer containment dome was poured on 10 April marked the successful capping of the structure.

Experts said the milestone laid a solid foundation for installation and debugging and the reactor's operation.

The completed containment building is now almost 74m high, CNNC said. The 366 tonne outer steel dome - measuring about 53m in diameter and over 23m in height – was placed upon the top of the containment building walls in June 2019. Installation of the reactor internals was completed in January 2019 at Karachi 2 and earlier in April at Karachi 3.

Karachi 2 and 3, which started construction in 2015 and 2016, are the first exports of China's Hualong One design. CNNC is building two units at its Fuqing plant in Fujian province, with grid connection expected this year, and began a unit at Zhangzhou in Fujian last September.

China General Nuclear (CGN) is building two Hualong One reactors at its Fangchenggang site in Guangxi province, also due for grid connection this year, and began construction of another unit at Taipingling in Guangdong in late December. CGN also hopes to use a UK version of its Hualong One design - the HPR1000 - at the UK’s planned Bradwell NPP.
 
China completes installation of reactor internals at Karachi 3 in Pakistan
14 April 2020


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China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced that installation of all reactor internals at unit 3 of the Karachi nuclear power plant in Pakistan had been completed on 4 April.

Experts said the development was a key milestone in the progress of the project. During the process of assembling and adapting to the pressure vessel, all the assembly and installation dimensions met design requirements, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent nuclear circuit flushing and cold performance test at Karachi 3, they added.

There are two reactors under construction at the Karachi site – Karachi 2 and 3. These are the first of China’s indigenous HPR 1000 (Hualong One) reactor design to be built overseas.

At Karachi 2, reactor internals were installed in January 2019 and cold functional testing was completed in December 2019. Karachi 2 is scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2021, followed by Karachi 3 in 2022.


https://www.neimagazine.com/news/ne...or-internals-at-karachi-3-in-pakistan-7871209
 
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has completed cold functional testing at unit 2 of the Karachi nuclear power plant (Kanupp) in Pakistan.

The two units (2&3) under construction at Kanupp are the first exports of China’s Hualong One reactor design.

Cold functional testing at Karachi 2&3 involved checking some 7200 welds and 800 mechanical connection points within the test boundary for leaks on seven pressure platforms, CNNC said. All indicators met the acceptance criteria, and installation quality and performance meet design requirements.

Completion of the cold test was overseen by the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. It marks the completion of the main work of the nuclear island installation and the start of the system commissioning stage, CNNC said.
 
Chashma 5 already has a signed agreement for a Chinese ACP-1000 and PAEC has already acquired land for six nuclear power plants (total eight in pipeline). Says a lot about how at least the nuclear authority judges the viability of new power plants.
 
Historically NSG has shown itself to be toothless against Chinese interests in Pakistan's Nuclear Power Development.

When C-3 and C-4 supply agreements were being penned, NSG was concerned but China's proclamation that these are just "grandfathered" (lol) counterparts of the CHASHNUPP project, completely silenced them. Since then there hasn't been a peep. Not to mention, when K-2 and K-3 lifetime supply agreements were penned with CNNC in the last decade, nothing came from them. No criticisms, no sanctions, nothing. Even though project didn't even have leverage of being "grandfathered" by China.

In recent times, even IAEA has started to actively participate in a three pronged program to develop Pakistan's Civil Nuclear Infrastructure.
 
Reactors under construction and planned in Pakistan


Reactor......... Province... Type ......................Construction start...... Planned commercial operation

Karachi 2........
Sindh...... Hualong One/ACP1000....... Aug 2015............ late 2021
Karachi 3........ Sindh...... Hualong One/ACP1000........ May 2016........... late 2022

Total (2).........................
2322


Chashma 5........
Punjab..... Hualong One/ACP1000 1161 ? ?
Karachi is also known as KANUPP.

Karachi 2&3

In June 2013 the Planning Commission said that two CNNC 1000 MWe class reactors would be used for Karachi 2 and 3 (KANUPP 2&3) near Karachi unit 1. Two coastal sites had been under consideration for the twin 1100 MWe units. CNNC in April 2013 announced an export agreement for the ACP1000, nominally 1100 MWe, apparently for Pakistan. This was confirmed in June by the PAEC which said that the next nuclear project would be 1100 MWe class units at the Karachi Coastal power station.

In July 2013 ECNEC approved two units of the Karachi Costal power project with net generation capacity of 2117 MWe. The total cost of this was estimated at PKR 959 billion ($9.116 billion), with $6.5 billion (68%) being vendor finance. PAEC also said that 82% of the total cost would be financed by China. At the end of August 2013 contracts were signed in Shanghai with CNNC, CZEC, China Nuclear Power Engineering Co. Ltd. (CNPE), Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), and East China Electric Power Designing Institute (ECEPDI). Groundbreaking at the site near Paradise Point, 25 km west of Karachi, took place in November 2013, but in October 2014 the Sindh high court ruling stopped site work following a challenge on environmental grounds, and the restraining order was extended to early December. The project was re-launched in August 2015, and construction of the first unit started then.

The Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority received the safety analysis of China’s ACP1000 reactor from CNNC and after completing the review granted a construction licence, for the CNNC version of Hualong One, 1161 MWe gross.

In April 2015 China Nuclear Engineering & Construction Group Co (CNEC) won the tender for civil engineering construction and installation work for the conventional island of the plant, which it said would use Hualong One reactors. Construction of the first unit started in August 2015 and is expected to take 72 months (52 months for the conventional island). Construction of the second unit started at the end of May 2016, according to the IAEA, but without any announcement or notification on the PAEC website. In July 2017 the reactor vessel for unit 2 completed pressure tests at China First Heavy Machinery Group's factory in China, and in September it was installed.

A press report in January 2017 said that work on both units was intensifying to meet the operational target, and that it was a CPEC project. In March 2017 the IAEA approved Pakistan’s request to apply international safeguards to both units.

In November 2019, CNNC reported that cold testing had begun for Karachi 2.

In light of its inability to buy uranium on the open market, PAEC says that Pakistan has agreed with CNNC to provide lifetime fuel supply for the reactors, specified as 60 years.

Chashma 5

In November 2010 the PAEC signed a construction agreement with CNNC for a fifth unit at Chashma. In February 2013 a further agreement was signed by PAEC with CNNC for a 1000 MWe unit at Chashma. It was reported that China expected that this deal would be controversial under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and guidelines of the NSG. Early in 2013 CNNC confirmed that the reactor would be an ACP1000 unit, though not necessarily at Chashma. In November 2017 CNNC signed a cooperation agreement with PAEC on the construction of Chashma 5 as a Hualong One unit.
 
One year continuous operation Chashma Nuclear Power Plant unit-4 makes history

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) announced that its Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-4 has made a new record in Pakistan’s history by running for a year continuously, becoming the first electricity generation plant of the country to achieve this milestone.

Previously, Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 (Chashma-2), held the record of running for continuous 302 days.

Member Power of PAEC Mr. Saeed-ur-Rahman, while making the announcement, said that, “This unique record of efficient and safe operations of Chashma-4 bespoke the acumen and hard work of PAEC’s teams of technicians, scientists and engineers.”
PAEC operates four nuclear power plants at Chashma, near Mianwali, that collectively generate about 1330 megawatts of electricity

 
First overseas nuclear reactor using Hualong One technology completes hot functional tests...

The K2 unit at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant in Pakistan successfully completed hot functional tests (HFT) on Friday, laying a solid foundation for subsequent assembly materials and grid-connected power generation.
This is the first overseas unit adopting China's Hualong One nuclear reactor technology, also known as #HPR1000, a domestically developed third-generation reactor design.....................


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The K2 unit at the #Karachi, #Pakistan #NuclearPower Plant in successfully completed hot functional tests (HFT) on Friday. This is the 1st overseas unit adopting #China's Hualong One #nuclear reactor technology (#HPR1000), a Chinese developed third-generation reactor design.

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NEPRA reduces tariff of nuclear power plants


The NEPRA Authority under the prevailing rules and regulations has accordingly admitted the same and conducted a hearing on January 13, 2021.

APP
24 Feb 2021



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ISLAMABAD: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) in a landmark decision has reduced the Return on Equity (ROE) component of three Nuclear Power Generation Plants including the C-2, C-3 and C-4 having a cumulative net capacity of 931 MW.

It would result in saving of Rs 2.05 Billion per year (average Rs 0.2515/unit) for the remaining life of the Nuclear Power Plants i.e. 25-37 years approximately, said a press release issued here Wednesday.

It is apprised that the above Nuclear Power Generation Plants in line with Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) decision of August 27, 2020 have filed petitions with NEPRA for reduction in their ROE components on account of reduced ROE rate and freezing exchange rate to Rs 148/Dollar.

The NEPRA Authority under the prevailing rules and regulations has accordingly admitted the same and conducted a hearing on January 13, 2021 and subsequently decided to freeze the exchange rate at Rs.148/ dollar and reduce the ROE from 15% to 14.5% for the remaining life of these projects.
 

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