CHASHMA, Sept 3: The Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (Chashnupp) will be shut down for refuelling and cleaning at the end of the current month. This outage is planned for 81 days.

The first refuelling outage (RFO), the Chashnupp officials said was always much longer because most of the equipment needs overhaul and inspection after first prolonged operation.

The project went into commercial operation on Sept 25, 2000. The re-fuelling outage provides a good opportunity for maintenance, safety, tests, inspections and necessary improvements, said Ziaul Hassan Siddiqui, the general manager of the Chashnupp while briefing a newsmen on a study tour to the power generation facilities.

The Chashnupp, has produced 3.57 billions kilowatt-hours of electricity since its connection to the national grid with effect from June 13, 2000. Meanwhile, Chairman Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Pervez Butt in an informal chat with the reporters said that Pakistan was planning to extend KANUPP and CHASNUPP projects to meet the growing energy requirement of the country by adding two more power plants.

With the new addition the installed capacity would further increase to 900 MW (600 MW KANUPP-2 and 300 MW at CHASNUPP-2). “Pakistan is ready to embrace this nuclear option as we have the distinction of being the only country in the Muslim world which is operating two nuclear power plants and have a confident human resource capable of installing and operation of such power houses,” he said.

About the fuel fabrication, the chairman said that with the addition of two more plants, Pakistan would be in a position to economically prepare its own nuclear fuel for energy generation. Presently the fuel for the Chashnupp was being imported from China while for Kanupp, the fuel was indigenously prepared. “We have now reached a state of indigenization where a country can claim to go nuclear with confidence and competitive edge,” the chairman observed.

Wapda was paying Rs1.75 per KWh. On the other hand, Wapda was charging Rs5.16 per KWh on the average for power import from Chashnupp.

He quoted a study stating that by the end of 2020, the electricity requirement of the country will be 45,000 MW. Presently Pakistan has a generating capacity of 18,000 MW. To meet the future gap, the study suggests that 10,000 MW would be met through hydel generation and another 10,000 through thermal.

The nuclear capability provides an excellent option to fill the shortage of 7000 MW.