PAEC plans 40,000MW by 2050 using environment-friendly nuclear power

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan envisages nuclear power generation capacity of 40,000MW under its Nuclear Energy Vision-2050, said Chairman Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Muhammad Naeem, on Wednesday.
He said, “Climate change is the greatest challenge that stares humanity in the face but nuclear power, producing no greenhouse gases, offers the remedy to pollution control and energy crisis.
“Therefore, the IAEA should aggressively promote its use as a mitigation measure,” he stressed addressing the 59th IAEA General Conference being held in Vienna, Austria, said a press release.
“To the same end, Pakistan envisages nuclear power generation capacity of 40,000MW under its Nuclear Energy Vision-2050,” he said and added that PAEC was making other important contributions to the socio-economic sector of the country by bringing home the fruits of peaceful applications of nuclear technology for the masses.
He said that Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was currently providing a vital service to the nation through its 18 oncology medical hospitals where about 80 percent cancer patients of the country were being treated each year. PAEC plans to further expand its services to the public by setting up more nuclear medical centres, the PAEC chairman said. He said that in December, 2013 an impact-integrated Mission on Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy came to Pakistan and visited nuclear medical hospitals in public and private sectors in different cities.
“We now have received recommendations of the Mission which are being implemented,” he told audience about IAEA’s unique role as the world’s focal point for promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy in a manner that is safe and beneficial.
Having started at about the same time, the IAEA and the PAEC can be said to be growing together, he said.
Pakistan has enjoyed a very productive and mutually beneficial relationship with the IAEA. Guided by the past interaction, Pakistan remains committed to synergizing its efforts with those of the Agency for harnessing the vast potential of nuclear technology, he said and shared how Pakistan has been successfully running its first nuclear power plant in Karachi that was established in 1972 for more than four decades without any vendor support.
“The safe and successful operation of KANUPP gave Pakistan the confidence to further pursue and advance the nuclear power option to cope with the country’s severe electric power shortages,” he said.
The chairman PAEC also mentioned that People’s Republic of China, under a long term cooperation agreement between the two countries in 2000, provided two 325 MW each Chashma Nuclear Power Plants, units C-1 and C-2 and said the performance and economics of these units won support for the the construction of two more units C-3 and C-4 in this series which are now under construction at the same site.