Rs37b may be allocated for nuclear power plants

Two plants of 2,000MW capacity will be purchased from China.

ISLAMABAD:

The government is likely to allocate Rs36.91 billion to nuclear power in next financial year 2012-13 in an effort to start work on several new plants in the country.

According to sources, a plan in this connection will be tabled before the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC), which is expected to meet on May 10.

The government has also planned to purchase two nuclear power plants with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts each from China, which will be utilised for setting up Karachi Nuclear Power Plant-II (Kanupp-II) and Kanupp-III and help mitigate energy crisis.

In this regard, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and China National Nuclear Corporation will undertake a joint study to finalise design modifications for the two plants.

“An amount of Rs790 million is likely to be set aside for feasibility and design study of the two power plants in the next financial year,” a government official said. After completion of this exercise, a contract for establishing Kanupp-II and Kanupp-II would be negotiated with China, he said.

Besides these plants, six more nuclear power plants will be set up for which Rs35.5 million has been sought for conducting surveys and feasibility studies.

The government also wants to set up 300MW and 1,000MW nuclear power plants in Karachi and Rs100 million has been sought for site development and plant installation.

Chashma Nuclear Power Project-III and IV, being set up by China, will likely receive Rs31.56 billion while total cost of the two projects has been estimated at Rs189.99 billion. Expenditure on these is expected to reach Rs62.34 billion by the end of June this year.

Two new schemes will be launched for Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission including “Long-term operation of Kanupp” costing Rs868.19 million and “Nuclear fuel enrichment plant” worth Rs14.24 billion. For the first scheme, Rs252 million may be allocated while Rs500 million may be earmarked for the latter in 2012-13.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2012.