Going against the commonly held view in the West that Nuclear Power is dangerous and to be avoided, especially after the Fukushima Nuclear plant disaster in March 2011; I am strong supporter of nuclear power plants.
Everyone must have heard of the recent scheme of setting up about 6,000 MW coal based power plants at Gadani. A typical coal based power plant of say 500MW will release roughly 3-million tons of CO2 per year. Additionally it will release about 6,000 tons of SO2 & about 2,500 tons on Nitrogen Oxides each year. This with all the scrubbers and pollution control devices installed! Only Allah knows how much pollution these coal fired power plants will cause in Pakistan.
Nuclear plants release none of the above gasses into the atmosphere. Instead you have to dig a very deep hole in the ground for burying the radioactive waste.
Gas/ furnace oil fired power plant will cost between $0.8 – 1.0-million per MW with a 40 year life and a state of the art pulverized coal fired power plant costs about $1.5-million - $2-million per MW. Therefore modern Nuclear plant at $1.2-million per MW and 60 year plant life is great.
In my humble opinion; Nuclear Power is the “Greenest” form of energy. Sooner Pakistan can build 3rd generation nuclear power plants, the better.
