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Nuclear Power Plants in Pakistan

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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.
 
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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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Elusive Nuclear reactor radiation will help to ensure Nuclear power plant safety


The Frontier Post
September 9, 2020


Scientists from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI conducted a series of experiments that will help improve the accuracy of the remote control of nuclear reactors by almost a thousand times.
The principle of the device operation, which can take world nuclear security to a new level, is based on the recently discovered phenomenon of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering.

The results of the study, supported by the Rosatom State Atomi? Energy Corporation, were reported by the press service of the university.

One of the methods for the supervision of nuclear reactors is neutrino radiation analysis. It helps prevent the unauthorised removal of nuclear fuel that could be used to produce illegal nuclear weapons. The analysis is performed remotely to avoid interfering with the operation of nuclear power plants under suspicion.
“Neutrinos are elementary particles formed in large quantities in nuclear reactions. To ensure that the neutrinos are stopped from penetrating the nuclear reactor, it will take a “wall” of lead that is light-years thick, so they can easily pass through the NPP protection. By analysing the neutrino radiation, we can understand both the isotopic composition of the reaction and what is happening right now in the centre of the reactor’s core”, Project Manager and Head of the Interdepartmental laboratory of experimental nuclear physics Alexander Bolozdynya said.

Researchers at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI explained that the operation of nuclear reactors produces isotope 239Pu, the so-called weapons-grade plutonium, as one of the products of nuclear fuel decay. The neutrino radiation detectors allow detecting the withdrawal of this material or fixing the change in the isotopic composition of the reaction.

By improving the neutrino control method, scientists from NRNU MEPhI are working on a fundamentally new type of two-phase emission detectors based on the effect of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) on heavy atomic nuclei. Predicted by Soviet scientists more than 40 years ago, this phenomenon was discovered in an acceleration experiment only in 2017.

According to the NRNU MEPhI researchers, using the CEvNS effect allows creating a detector which will be almost 1000 times more sensitive to reactor neutrinos than the existing devices. Modern neutrino detectors are multi-ton structures comparable in size to a nuclear reactor, while the new detector can be implemented as a mobile unit of small size.
At present, scientists have completed the analysis of data obtained during the second in the history of observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. According to them, the results made it possible to significantly clarify the theoretical model of the phenomenon. This time, relatively light argon nuclei were used as a neutrino target.

“Argon is close in properties to xenon used in our experimental two-phase emission detector RED-100, but it is considerably less expensive. The data obtained showed that noble gases can be used to create relatively compact neutrino radiation detectors”, Alexander Bolozdynya explained.

According to the MEPhI scientists, the detector they are designing has already attracted the attention of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board, as its application will make nuclear power safer and more transparent.

Furthermore, the scientists stressed that the sensitivity of the new detector is also quite suitable for purely scientific purposes, for example: to analyse the neutrino radiation of the Sun or supernova stars, which will allow them to better understand the processes occurring inside them.
The scientific team plans to conduct the first tests of the promising detector at the Kalinin NPP as early as next year.

The RED-100 collaboration work on CEvNS process research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation Grant ?18-12-00135.

The work on testing RED-100 to develop a technology for effective remote control of the NPP nuclear reactor core was supported by JSC Science and Innovations of the Rosatom State Atomi? Energy Corporation.
 
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The 1,100MW K2 nuclear reactor at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) has successfully concluded its thermal testing and will be ready for commercial operations next year. The thermal tests, also known as hot functional tests (HFTs), have been conducted using China’s domestically produced ‘Hualong One’ technology.

Karachi Nuclear Power Plant in Pakistan is the first to use the Hualong One technology outside its native country. China is currently in the process of building two Hualong One reactors with a capacity of 1,100MW each at the Karachi Nuclear Power Complex. A single 137MW reactor has been operating in this complex near the Karachi coast since 1972.

The construction of two new reactor units, Kanupp-2 and Kanupp-3, began in August 2015 and May 2016 respectively. The reactors have been respectively scheduled to launch commercial operations in 2021 and 2022. These units will account for the country’s total energy generation up to 10%.

In April 2020, the last concrete layer for the outer containment dome of the K2 reactor’s nuclear island was constructed with a height of 73.98m. The nuclear island, which refers to the main structure of a nuclear reactor, has a two-layered containment. The outer layer is built in the form of a tube-like structure and a dome structure.

The dome-shaped containment layer helps in the installation, debugging, and operational processes of the reactor. By August 31, the construction of the nuclear island of the K3 unit at KANUPP had also been completed and the outer containment dome was successfully installed.
 
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Chashma Nuclear power plant: Chinese firm given licence to start trial operations

21 January 2000

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has issued a licence to the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) to commence trial operations of the country's second nuclear power plant constructed with Chinese assistance at Chashma in Mianwali district.

Sources in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) told Dawn here on Wednesday that the licence had been issued by an 8- member Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Board (PNRB) on a joint request of the PAEC and the CNNC. The licence provides that the CNNC should operate the 300-megawatt Chashma Nuclear Plant from the moment it becomes critical to its satisfactory operation at full capacity when it would be taken over by the PAEC.

The CNNC has been given the permission to start operating the plant after it meets certain conditions of nuclear safety.

For example, the company has been asked to make sure that the repair work and additional security precautions recommended by Westinghouse at the CNNC's Chen Shon Plant are also carried out at the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant.

A joint review meeting of the PAEC and the CNNC has decided that the plant should go critical in April this year and that production would gradually increase to full capacity. "The plant would be operated for many months at full capacity before it is taken over by the PAEC," an official said.

Chashma Nuclear Power Plant is exact replica of Chen Shon power plant, which recently experienced operational problems because of the excessive vibrations in the reactor vessel.

Civil work for the project had started at Chashma on August 31, 1993, with "first concrete pouring ceremony" performed jointly by PAEC chairman Dr Ishfaq Ahmad and CNNC President Jiang Xinxiong. It was due to become critical last year but the schedule was disturbed because of modifications in the Chen Shon plant. Similar precautions had become necessary at Chashma.

Pakistan had been trying to set up a power plant at Chashma since 1982 when bids for a 900-megawatt plant were invited by the PAEC. Although several leading suppliers of nuclear technology collected the bid documents, none submitted bids because of the pressure of the United States government.
 
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Next-generation KANUPP-2, 1100 MW nuclear power plant to be fully operational by April 2021 and KANUPP-3 ,1100 MW nuclear power plant by October 2021.

According to PAEC, the KANUPP-2 reactor was loaded with fuel on 1st December 2020 after approval from the #Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA). Director General Strategic Plans Division (SPD) Lieutenant General Nadeem Zaki Manj, Chairman PAEC Muhammad Naeem, member power committee of the PAEC, and top officials of China graced the occasion with their presence.

The PAEC spokesperson said, “Its construction began in August 2015 and after an operational examination, it will begin producing power from April 2021.” The KANUPP-2 and KANUPP-3 reactor are both third-generation atomic power plants based on the Hualong One reactor units that are supplied by the Chinese. Both of these reactors will have the capability to produce 1100 MW of electricity with KANUPP-3 joining the grid in October 2021. In comparison, the KANUPP-1 power plant had a maximum capacity of just 137 MW.



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Going carbon free

By Engr. Hussain Ahmad Siddiqui
Mon, 12, 20


The commencement of commercial operations next year of the state-of-the-art Karachi Nuclear Power Plant of 1,145MWe (megawatts electric) installed capacity will usher in a new era of national energy security and economic progress. National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has already issued license, on December 9, 2019, to the under-construction project, commonly known as KANUPP-2 or K-2.


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The commencement of commercial operations next year of the state-of-the-art Karachi Nuclear Power Plant of 1,145MWe (megawatts electric) installed capacity will usher in a new era of national energy security and economic progress. National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has already issued license, on December 9, 2019, to the under-construction project, commonly known as KANUPP-2 or K-2.

Pakistan began operating its first commercial nuclear power plant in 1971-72. It was established in the coastal area of Karachi under the economic and technical assistance of Canada, now termed as KANUPP-1 or K-1. A pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) type, originally of 137MWe installed capacity, it has outlived design lifetime long ago. The plant, still in operation, has been de-rated at 90MWe net capacity. Preparations are in hand for the decommissioning of K-1 at the time when the two under-construction nuclear power plants at Karachi will be completed to commence commercial production.

Due to international pressures and other constraints, it would not be possible for Pakistan, being outside the UN’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to implement its plan for enhancing nuclear power generation capacity in subsequent years. It was only after China came to support us in this strategic field, which was after more than three decades of KANUPP-1 operations. Thus, the second commercial nuclear power plant was commissioned and grid-connected in the year 2000.

Now known as Chashma Nuclear Power Plant-1 (or CHASNUPP-1 or C-1), it has PWR (pressurised water reactor) type reactor of 325MWe gross or 300MWe net capacity. Since then, there has been a series of nuclear power plants constructed at Chashma site with the generous help of China. These are CHASNUPP-2 (or C-2) of 325MWe gross or 300MWe net capacity, grid-connected in 2011, CHASNUPP-3 (or C-3) of 340MWe gross or 315MWe net capacity, grid-connected in 2016, and CHASNUPP-4 (C-4) of 340MWe or 313MWe net capacity, which was grid connected in 2017.

Today, cumulative capacity of these nuclear power plants is 1,467MWe gross or 1,318MWe net, generating 9,705GWh (Gigawatt-hours) with a share of over seven percent in power generation mix of total 134,745 GWh generated during last fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. Overall capacity factor of these nuclear power plants is at par with global levels. All these nuclear power plants are operating under international safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Pakistan being an IAEA Member State since 1957.

In January 2018, the IAEA launched a four-year technical cooperation project titled “Strengthening and Enhancing Capabilities of Pakistan’s National Institutions to Support a Safe, Reliable and Sustainable Nuclear Power Programme”.

Subsequently, Pakistan signed in September 2019 the fourth “IAEA Country Programme Framework for 2020-2025”, which is a medium-term plan of technical cooperation for transfer of nuclear technology. Based on this document, the IAEA technical cooperation resources will be directed to support national development goals in the areas of, inter alia, nuclear power development and nuclear safety and security.

Currently, there are two nuclear power plants under construction at Karachi—KANUPP-2 (K-2) and KANUPP-3 (K-3), each of 1,145MWe capacity. These are Chinese third-generation Hualong One (also known as HPR 1000) reactors based on PWR technology.

The first nuclear power plant based on Hualong One technology has been tested and grid-connected in China ten days ago, on November 27. The power plant located in Fuqing city in Fujian province meets the strictest safety standards in the world and meets designed requirements for technical performance, China claims.

Construction of K-2 and K-3 started in August 2015 and May 2016, respectively. K-2 is in advanced stage of construction. Cold testing of K-2 was completed in December 2019. Concreting of outer dome of the double-layer containment of K-3 was completed in April 2020. Thus, K-2 is scheduled for commercial operations by the end of 2021, whereas K-3 is expected to complete in 2022.

The Chinese have committed to supply reactors fuel (uranium) for design lifetime of sixty years of these plants. The two projects are covered under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) programme. The IAEA applies safeguards to K-2 and K-3 as well under the agreement concluded in May 2017. With the completion of K-2 and K-3 total installed capacity of nuclear power generation would be 3,757MWe.

To meet energy needs for socio-economic development, Pakistan plans to enhance nuclear-based power generation to 8,800MWe total installed capacity by 2030 targeting 25 percent share in overall power generation mix by then. It is decided that China’s Hualong One unit of 1,145MWe capacity, as installed at K-2 and K-3, will be replicated for future projects.

In November 2017, Pakistan signed Cooperation Agreement with the Chinese on the construction of CHASNUPP-5 as a Hualong One unit. It is planned to construct another unit at Muzaffargarh, near Taunsa-Punjnad Canal, while four other sites have been identified, in consultation with the IAEA, for the remaining projects planned for completion by 2030.

Nuclear power technology is a major base-load power generation source. Globally, there are 442 operable reactors of cumulative 392GWe (gigawatts electric) capacity, operating in 32 countries. Nuclear power generation industry is growing fast, as 53 nuclear power plants are under construction at present across the world, adding new member countries to the club too. One of the four power plants planned for construction in the UAE has been grid-connected during late 2019, while Belarus’ first plant was commissioned last month.

Global nuclear power capacity is projected to be 536GWe by the year 2030.
 
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Chashma Nuclear Reactor goes 'critical'

Wednesday, May 03, 2000 10:56 PM

MIANWALI, May 3: The Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (CHASNUPP) crossed another important milestone of its final phase of completion on Wednesday evening when the reactor was made critical.

"This is the first major step towards nuclear power plant start-up for producing electricity," says a Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission press release.

A nuclear reactor becomes critical when the fission chain reaction is made self-sustaining in a highly-controlled and regulated manner to produce energy, it said.

Earlier, nuclear fuel was loaded in the reactor between Nov 22-28, 1999. After rigorous testing of various reactor safety systems, the plant was made ready to go critical.

CHASNUPP, like all nuclear power facilities in the country, is regulated by the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Board (PNRB). The board monitors all plant activities and grants the permit to make the reactor critical.

CHASNUPP will now be made ready in the coming weeks for its connection to the national grid for supplying electricity. The plant will be formally inaugurated later this year.

The criticality event was witnessed by Dr Ishfaq Ahmad, Chairman PAEC, Member (Power) of the Commission and some members of PNRB; senior Chinese and Pakistan experts were also present.

On successful completion of the criticality procedures, Dr Ishfaq Ahmad congratulated the Chinese and Pakistani engineers and thanked them for their painstaking efforts to make this project a success. He said CHASNUPP is a symbol of successful South-South cooperation in high technology and yet another landmark of everlasting Pakistan-China friendship.

Mr Pervez Butt, Member (Power), also thanked all involved in the event and said that PAEC engineers have gained valuable expertise by directly participating in various stages of plant construction and commissioning of the plant. He looked forward to efficient operation of the plant for the economic development of the country. General Manager CHASNUPP Mirza M. Azfar Baig was also present on this occasion.

CHASNUPP is Pakistan's second nuclear power plant, the first being KANUPP near Karachi. These are the only two nuclear power plants in the Islamic World. CHASNUPP has been built under a turn-key contract with the China National Nuclear Corporation, signed on Dec 31, 1991. Safety and quality have been the most important factors in design and construction of the plant. Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) have reviewed the plant design and the construction work, and endorsed these to be of international standards.

Although, CHASNUPP was a turn-key contract, PAEC undertook a significant part of the construction work besides manufacturing some mechanical equipment for the plant. A number of Pakistani companies were also involved in this project.

A team of very competent experts for operation and maintenance of the plant has been developed. Building upon KANUPP's experience, a large number of engineers have been trained extensively at the Chinese Qinshan Plant. In addition, training on the plant simulator, which has been established at the site by PAEC, has provided them added confidence. Safety culture has thoroughly been inculcated in the plant operation team.

CHASNUPP will generate 300 MW of electricity and will use only about 12 tons of nuclear fuel annually as compared with the consumption of about half a million tons of oil every year by a similar size conventional power plant, thus helping to reduce country's dependence on imported oil. Further, its favourable location in the national grid, will help to control transmission losses, and its operation will be independent of seasonal variations. Nuclear power is environment friendly as, unlike coal, gas and oil based power plants, it will not emit any harmful gases such as carbon dioxide, which are said to be the cause of global warming.
 
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Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology, Islamabad in late 1960's

Mother of Pakistan Nuclear Journey



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KARACHI NUCLEAR POWER COMPLEX

Pakistan’s next-generation KANUPP-2 1100MW nuclear reactor has reached criticality for the first time, i.e. is capable of full nuclear power production. KANUPP-3 is under construction at a cost of $9.5 Billion (K2+K3 combined cost).
 
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