‘Impeccable’ nuclear safety

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog praised Pakistan’s nuclear safety and security, along with its technical capacity, as he said the country has a promising future with regard to nuclear energy. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s words were among the rare positive comments about anything going on in Pakistan of late, and also go a long way in reassuring the world that despite political instability and economic upheaval, Pakistan’s nuclear assets are safe. In fact, Pakistan’s nuclear safety record remains “world-class and impeccable”, according to Grossi, who emphasises that Pakistan has the technical and engineering capacity to add several new nuclear power plants, which could be a critical tool in producing clean energy while reducing the average cost of electricity. It also helps that there is still strong political support for new nuclear power plants.

Unfortunately, Grossi did not say how Pakistan would pay for the initial set-up costs for new plants, which are generally the most prohibitive element of nuclear power facilities. Nuclear plants are relatively cheaper to operate, but cost several times more than equivalent capacity power plants of other types, and also require very specific topography to be safe and functional. These considerations are why Pakistan has been forced to rely on fossil fuel-powered plants in the past — they are cheap to set up, but costly and heavily polluting to operate.

And that may well be where the debate over the successes of Grossi’s trip should focus. While Grossi did give a stamp of approval to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities and offered support for civilian use programmes, facilitating the financing of nuclear projects does not appear to have come up much. We are already struggling to pay our bills in the present, planning for the future without a settled financing strategy is reckless. But that does not mean we ignore the potential of the field. If Islamabad can get our finances in order, nuclear power may well be the long-term solution to our power sector’s problems.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2023.

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