KARACHI: The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission issued a Letter of Intent yesterday to the Canadian General Electric Company as prime contractor for the supply, construction, installation and commissioning of a 132,000 kilowatt nuclear power station for Karachi on a turn-key basis. Situated at the “Paradise Point” near the picturesque Buleji Beach on the Arabian Sea coast, 15 miles west of Karachi, the nuclear plant when completed in 1969 will provide sufficient generating capacity to meet the rapidly growing demand for power in the Karachi area.

It will operate as a base-load station in the grid of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and is expected to produce power at about 3-1/2 paisas per unit (kwh). Although the capital cost of the plant is almost double the cost of a gas-fired station of equivalent capacity, the savings on fuel over the life time of the plant will more than compensate for the extra capital cost involved. At high load factors, the nuclear plant will generate power at a cost lower than that of a gas-fired plant of equivalent capacity. It will also help to conserve natural gas for such uses as production of chemical fertilisers, plastics, synthetic fibres, domestic fuel and raising of industrial steam.

Published in Dawn, November 29th , 2014