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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is negotiating the purchase of six to eight nuclear power reactors from China over the next decade. in the most ambitious expansion yet of the country's nuclear energy capability.
The deal could cost $7.0bn-$10bn and would involve adding 3,600MW-4,800MW of capacity using a series of 600MW reactors. The plants are expected to be completed by 2025, with construction starting by 2015, a senior Pakistani official told the Financial Times.
The installation of Chinese nuclear power reactors would take Pakistan a long way towards meeting government targets of raising nuclear power generation capacity to 8,800MW by 2036, up from a current capacity of 425MW.
The disclosure of the negotiations with China follows the formal start of construction last week of a Chinese-supplied nuclear power plant at Chashma in Punjab province.
The new Chashma-2 plant is expected to be completed over the next five years and is being built beside the existing 300MW Chashma-1, which was also supplied by China. Pakistan also operates a 125MW Canadian-supplied reactor in the southern port city of Karachi.
Pakistan's increasing reliance on China for its nuclear reactors is likely to raise concerns within the anti-nuclear proliferation lobby in the west. China has been suspected of assisting Pakistan with the development ,of its nuclear weapons programme, which led to the country's maiden nuclear tests in 1998.
Pakistan emerged at the centre of global concerns over nuclear proliferation in 2004 when it was revealed that A Q Khan, the father of its nuclear bomb project, had sold nuclear expertise and technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Mr Khan, a national hero and an iconic figure in Pakistan, was forced to appear on television in Pakistan and admit he had made a mistake through the sales of nuclear technology. Since then, he has lived effectively under house arrest.
In an apparent attempt to pacify western concerns over proliferation, Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan's prime minister, stressed last week that the country's nuclear programme was for peaceful purposes.
"We have established an effective command and control authority to ensure the safety and security of our strategic assets. We have also adopted wide ranging controls to prevent leakage of nuclear materials", he said.
A senior-western diplomat in Islamabad said that Pakistan's increasing reliance on China could be a reaction to the US offer to sell reactors to India, its neighbour and nuclear rival. "This could be meant to tell Washington that Pakistan has other options," he said.
However, Lieutenant General [retired] Talat Masood, a Pakistani commentator on security affairs, said that discussions with China had been going on for some time." Pakistan has a long term relationship with China and there is a great trust factor," he said.
General Masood said that Pakistan would continue to pursue US reactors as well, although many in Islamabad felt that the price was too high.
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