IAEA moot: ‘Pakistan to build more nuclear plants’

Pakistan atomic commission has a target to add 8,800 MW of nuclear power by the year 2030.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Chairman Dr Ansar Parvez said on Tuesday that Pakistan is finding it difficult to purchase even the nuclear safety equipment from global vendors. “We hope that vendor countries will recognise that restricting Pakistan’s access to nuclear power technology on an entirely discriminatory basis is not only unjust, it is also futile and counter-productive,” Dr Parvez said at the 56th session of General Conference of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, a PAEC press release said on Tuesday. He said that two nuclear power plants of 340MW each are under construction at Chashma and are likely to be commissioned by 2016 with Chinese assistance, while three other nuclear power plants already commissioned in the country are performing very well. The Commission has a target to add 8,800 MW of nuclear power by the year 2030. “All our nuclear power plants are under IAEA safeguards,” he emphasised.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2012.