PM to virtually inaugurate KANUPP-2 today

Prime Minister Imran Khan will virtually inaugurate the 1,100 megawatts Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 (Kanupp-2) today (Friday) at the occasion of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and China.

According to a statement issued on Thursday, Kanupp-2 is a generation III, state-of-the-art plant with improved safety systems, especially internal and external accident prevention ability and enhanced emergency response capability.

The plant has a 60-year life expectancy, extendable to 20 more years. It is designed with higher plant availability and capacity factors, and extended refuelling cycle.

The construction of Kanupp-2 commenced in November 2013, whereas its fuel loading started on December 1, 2020 after approval from the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA).

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A series of cold and hot functional commissioning tests related with plant operation and safety were conducted, before achieving criticality at the end of February this year.

After further reactor physics tests, the plant was connected to the national grid on March 18, 2021 for trial operation and power escalation tests.

The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission is now operating six nuclear power plants in the country. Two of them are located in Karachi namely Kanupp-1 and Kanupp-2, while four are at Chashma, in Mianwali district, named as Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1-4.

Earlier, the collective generation capacity of all PAEC operated NPPs was around 1,400 megawatts. The inauguration of Kanupp-2 having 1,100MW capacity will nearly double these figures, substantially improving the overall share of nuclear power in the energy mix.

Meanwhile, Kanupp-3, with similar capacity is also in the commissioning phase and is expected to start production during the first quarter of 2022. It is worth mentioning that addition of clean, reliable and cost-effective nuclear power, in the energy mix, would greatly benefit the society and country at large