Nuclear Power in Pakistan
(Updated October 2021)
- Pakistan has five operable reactors, with a further unit under construction, with Chinese help.
- Pakistan's nuclear weapons capabilities have arisen independently of its civil nuclear fuel cycle, using indigenous uranium.
- Because Pakistan is outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, due to its weapons programme, it is largely excluded from trade in nuclear plant or materials, which hinders its development of civil nuclear energy. However, China is positive about nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, and a 2018 International Atomic Energy Agency programme further supports civil nuclear power.
Operable Reactors
Five
2,242 MWe
Reactors Under Construction
One
1,014 MWe
Reactors Shutdown
One
90 MWe
Operable nuclear power capacity
Electricity sector
Total generation (in 2019): 133 TWh
Generation mix: ......
Natural gas 61.7 TWh (46%), hydro 27.3 TWh (20%), coal 15.9 TWh (12%), oil 13.5 TWh (10%), nuclear 10.0 TWh (8%), wind 3.3 TWh (2.5%), biofuels & waste 0.9 TWh, solar 0.7 TWh.
Import/export balance: ....................0.5 TWh imports, no exports
Total consumption:.......................... 114 TWh
Per capita consumption:............... c. 500 kWh/yr
Source: International Energy Agency and The World Bank.
Nuclear Power Industry
Reactors operating in Pakistan
Karachi is also known as KANUPP; Chashma as CHASNUPP.
Enriched fuel for the PWRs is imported from China.
PAEC is responsible for all nuclear energy and research applications in the country. It has two divisions which are responsible for nuclear power programs: Nuclear Power Generation (NUPG) and Nuclear Power Projects (NUPP). The NUPG directorate oversees the operational units, and the NUPP directorate is concerned with the design and construction of planned units, and is closely aligned with the PNRA.
Karachi 1
PAEC's first nuclear power reactor, Karachi 1 (K1, KANUPP 1) at Paradise Point in Sindh province, about 25 km west of Karachi, was a small 100 MWe (90 MWe net) Canadian pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR). The unit started up in 1971 and was shut down in August 2021. It was under international safeguards. It was operated at reduced power for several years before its retirement.
At Karachi (KANUPP) a 4800 m3/day MED desalination plant was commissioned in 2012, though in 2014 it was reported as 1600 m3/day.
Chashma 1-4
The second unit is Chashma 1 (CHASNUPP 1) in Punjab province in the north, a 325 MWe (300 MWe net) two-loop pressurised water reactor (PWR) supplied by CNNC under safeguards. The main part of the plant was designed by
Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI), based on Qinshan 1. It started up in May 2000. Design lifetime is 40 years. It, and the following three units at the same site, were built using international design codes and standards.
Construction of its twin, Chashma 2 (CHASNUPP 2), started in December 2005. It was reported to cost PKR 51.46 billion ($ 490 million, with $20 million of this financed by China). A safeguards agreement with the IAEA was signed in 2006 and grid connection was in March 2011, with commercial operation in May. Upgrades have added 5 MWe since (to 330 MWe gross).
In June 2008 the government announced plans to build units 3&4 at Chashma, each 320 MWe gross and largely financed by China. A further agreement for China's help with the project was signed in October 2008, and given prominence as a counter to the US-India agreement shortly preceding it.
In March 2009 China's SNERDI announced that it was proceeding with design of Chashma 3&4, with China Zhongyuan Engineering Co. Ltd (CZEC) as the general contractor and China Nuclear Industry No.5 Construction Company as installer. In April 2009, a design contract with SNERDI was signed, and the government said that it had approved the project at a cost of $2.37 billion, with $1.75 billion of this involving "a foreign exchange component". In March 2010 Pakistan announced that it had agreed the terms for Chashma 3&4, whereby China would provide 82% of the total $1.912 billion financing as three 20-year low-interest loans. It would also provide fuel for the reactors’ lifetime nominally of 40 years.
The main construction contract was signed in June 2010, detailing that the two 340 MWe CNP-300 (315 MWe net) units were to be completed in eight years. They will have a design lifetime of 40 years and be under IAEA safeguards. Construction of unit 3 officially started at the end of May 2011, and unit 4 in December 2011. Early in 2014 PAEC said they were several months ahead of schedule. In 2015 CZEC said completion of unit 3 would be in 2016, and in fact it was grid-connected in October, with full power and commercial operation in December. Unit 4 started up in March 2017 and was grid-connected late in June 2017.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has raised some questions about China's supply of Chasma 3&4. Contracts for units 1&2 were signed in 1990 and 2000 respectively, before 2004 when China joined the NSG, which maintains an embargo on sales of nuclear equipment to Pakistan. China argued that units 3&4 are similarly 'grandfathered', and arrangements are consistent with those for units 1&2.
During the inauguration of the Chashma 4 unit, the prime minister said the government "is committed to achieve [its] goal of adding 8800 MWe of nuclear energy to the national grid by 2030." This includes Karachi 2, connected to the grid in March 2021, and Karachi 3 currently under construction.
Reactors under construction and planned in Pakistan
| Reactor | Province | Type | MWe gross | Construction start | Planned commercial operation |
|---|
| Karachi 3 | Sindh | Hualong One/ACP1000 | 1100 | May 2016 | Late 2022 |
|---|
| Total (1) | | | 1100 | | |
|---|
| 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. Hot testing was completed in September 2020, and fuel loading commenced in December 2020. The unit achieved first criticality in February 2021 and was connected to the grid in March, after 67 months construction. The unit began commercial operation in May 2021.
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. In 2020 environmental assessment was under way.
How many more civil nuclear power plants are planned in Pakistan after K3 and C3?
