ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: Pakistan will soon start formal negotiations with the United States for acquiring nuclear power reactors to meet its energy needs for the next 25 years. Informed sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the nuclear regulatory authorities of the two countries have already held exploratory talks on civilian nuclear cooperation.

Pakistan is currently building its third nuclear power station with the assistance of China and plans to set up 13 more such stations to generate 8,800 MW of electricity by the year 2030.

Although the anti-proliferation lobby in the United States is opposed to selling nuclear reactors to non-recognized nuclear weapons states, the sources said, the agreement concluded by the Bush administration with India last July to sell that country civil nuclear technology opens the doors for other countries to seek the same cooperation.

According to the sources, the forthcoming Islamabad-Washington talks aim at fulfilling Pakistan’s pressing energy needs.

It took India and the United States four years to conclude their defence pact and acquisition of nuclear technology for New Delhi. “But negotiations between Pakistan and the United States over the issue would not take so long after Pakistan acquired the status of Non Nato Ally”, a source said.

Pakistan was seeking increasing US support on nuclear cooperation to ensure energy security that had also been acknowledged by the Bush administration.

The sources said that Pakistan has informed the US government that Islamabad’s nuclear generation programme was moving in the right direction especially after China provided 300 MW of nuclear power plant which was now helping to build another 300 nuclear power - Chashma-2.

“Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz says that after China, Pakistan would now be asking the US and the western countries to help build nuclear power plants for removing our energy shortages”, a source said. In this behalf, he said, Pakistan has decided to ask the United States and the western countries to “build and own” 13 new nuclear power plants.

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission had requested President Gen Pervez Musharraf to address the concerns of the US and the western world about proliferation by ensuring that the new plants would work under “full safeguards” of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The government would ask the US and western countries to make investment in certain “designated zones and parks” by partly or fully owning the proposed 13 new nuclear power plants in the country.