KARACHI: Reacting to the news of the United States financing solar power projects in India, rights activists have urged Pakistan to look for alternative energy generating sources rather than opting for nuclear power plants, which may pose a serious threat to Karachi’s population.

They stressed the need for the involvement of the public in an imminent public hearing on the ongoing case of the Chinese nuclear reactors to be built at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant and said that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was being organised for the first time and that too for a nuclear plant.

They were speaking at a workshop titled ‘Proposed Karachi nuclear power plants: preparing for the EIA and public hearing’, organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) on Sunday. The debate over the nuclear power plant gathered steam soon after the project was given a green light by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in December 2013.

The activists argued that a nuclear project closer to the population could pose a serious threat in the event of a catastrophe which might necessitate evacuation of a large population from one place to another.

They raised concerns that a project which had never been tried before could prove to be a big danger for Pakistan in the long run. Eventually, the Sindh High Court ruled the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) had violated the law by failing to conduct a proper and timely EIA. Since then the matter had been a subject of debate and discussion.Speaking at the workshop, Shehri activist Roland D’Souza said a bigger challenge in such cases was the indifference of the public.

“They usually don’t know their rights, a fact which becomes glaringly evident whenever a discussion is held over such issues while those in favour of the project are equipped with information and know-how to turn and twist facts to suit their purpose. We need to inform our people enough so that such liberties are not taken in the future,” he said. He argued during his presentation that the quality required of a review process in terms of content was not up to the mark. Environment degradation always hit the poor the most, while it only benefited the rich, he said.

About the environmental laws, he said environment related concerns were now subject of the provincial government after the 18th Amendment. Dr A.H. Nayyar, a physicist and professor at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and Karamat Ali from Piler said that instead of obtaining nuclear reactors, China should be asked to provide money for power generation through solar and wind projects.

A Sindh Environmental Protection Council had also been formed in March last year which was supposed to meet twice a year, but it had failed to hold any meeting so far.Dr Nayyar said the government was setting up two nuclear power plants, K2 and K3, along Karachi coast without acquiring the mandatory EIA report.

The SHC has asked the government to arrange a public hearing for the EIA. But for that the EIA document should be made available to the general public much before the actual hearing so that they can study and understand the issue at hand.The government recently hired a consultation firm for conducting the EIA, which had already conducted a scoping meeting in this regard. “We need to have the EIA according to international standards which requires the citizens to decide and comment on a project within a year. While over here, we are given only 15 days to present our answer,” added Mr D’Souza. Dr Nayyar said the main concern for a nuclear power plant in the world was storage and disposal of the spent fuel. In the EIA there should be a clear statement about the storage and disposal. “Decommissioning of a nuclear power plant was quite difficult. Decommissioning cost was almost equal to that of commissioning of a nuclear reactor,” he added.Architect Arif Belgaumi shed light on the history of earthquakes around Karachi and said the 1945 earthquake, which was 8.1 on Richter scale, occurred about 250 to 350 kilometres to the west of Karachi but the resultant tsunami had affected Karachi as well.

The speakers included leaders of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and the Strengthening Participatory Organisation.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2015

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