China comes through with huge Nuclear deal for Pakistan

In probably the most seminal deal of the century, China and Pakistan will jointly work on solving Pakistan energy crisis and work on the strategic 5 year trade plan to assist China in meeting its gas and trade needs. Unlike the US-Indian Nuclear deal which compromises the Indian defense program,prohibits India from conducting any tests and places more than half the facilities under international supervision, this deal has none of those prickly footnotes. What is more important is that the Nuclear deal does not come with any strings.

While US Senators quibble about pennies given to Pakistan as reimbursement for services rendered and “low level US officials” repeat their rhetorical statements about “doing more”, other countries are cooperating with Pakistan in a big way.

Despite a huge energy crunch faced by Pakistan, the USA and Europe have refused to offer the Major Non-Nato Ally (MNNA) and global partner in the War on Terror (GWOT) any help in energy. France has huge nuclear power plants, and it creates energy from tides. California has wind farms and solar energy technology which could eliminate load shedding in Pakistan. 

Faced with sanctions, Pakistan develops indigenous capacity using begged, borrowed, stolen and bought technology from a variety of sources. This model has worked well for Pakistan in developing the Nuclear bomb, Al-Khalid Tanks, JF-17 Thunders, Missiles and cars.

The way the Pakistan China relationship works is that large deals are not announced in summits becausethey attract much unwanted attention–specially in sensitive areas like Nuclear Technology. After several high level trips by Pakistani and Chinese officials, the new Nuclear deal with China has been unveiled.

The salient features of the deal are:

1) China will provide six new 300 MW nuclear plants on an expedited basis.
2) Indigenous Pakistan Nuclear Facilities to manufacture Nuclear and Coal plants.
3) Pakistan will ingeniously build 8 locally manufactured Nuclear plants.

4) Pakistan and China will cooperate in mining Pakistan’s humongous coal and then use it to produce elecdtricity.

China only makes 1000 MW plants now. China is not manufacturing any 300 MW plants, and has taken special steps to accommodate Pakistan’s needs. It will probably transfer the manufacturing technology of those smaller plants to Pakistan.

China to expedite delivery of N-plants: Indigenous capability being pursued By Ihtasham ul Haque

ISLAMABAD, May 8: Islamabad and Beijing will set up a corporation shortly to build nuclear- and coal-based power plants in Pakistan. The decision to form the ‘China-Pakistan Power Plant Corporation’ was taken during President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to China last month.

Sources said China had promised to help meet Pakistan’s nuclear energy requirements of 8,800 megawatts by 2030 by expediting the delivery of six plants of 300MW each. Earlier, the country had assisted Pakistan in setting up the Chashma-1 and Chashma-2 plants of the same capacity.

The sources said that several joint working groups and studies were being undertaken by the two countries to speed up cooperation in different fields, particularly the energy sector.

“But side by side, Pakistan is building a $1.2 billion facility to develop capability to manufacture full-cycle nuclear fuel and power plants,” they said.They said the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) would establish the Pakistan Nuclear Power Fuel Complex (PNPFC) to attain 100 per cent indigenous capability to manufacture pressurised water reactors (PWR) and nuclear power plants.

Pakistan had taken the decision to set up the complex in the face of nuclear suppliers’ denial of the technology to all except favoured ones. They cited as example the US deal with India on civil nuclear technology sales.

The complex will comprise a chemical processing plant, a fuel fabrication plant (FFP), nuclear power fuel testing project and Seamless Tube Plant-1 (STP-1).

Its prime objective is to set up an infrastructure for the production of PWR fuel, including essential input materials. Being an indigenous facility, it will assure regular supply of nuclear fuel to pressurised water reactors and nuclear power plants.

The plan will cost over Rs36.1 billion.

The chemical processing plant, which will cost Rs29 billion, is meant to produce nuclear fuel and structural materials, natural UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) gas from the commercially available yellow cake (U3O and for the conversion of depleted UF6 gas into depleted uranium metal.

The plant will act as road-map for fulfilling the requirement of one-third of fuel needed for nuclear plants planned to be constructed by 2030.

Initially, the PAEC is expected to construct six to eight nuclear power plants indigenously.

The fuel fabrication plant will be built at Rs4 billion to develop the capability for indigenous fabrication of fuel assembly for fulfilling the major share of the fuel requirements for existing and future nuclear plants.

At present, the government imports nuclear fuel from China for the 300MW Chashma Nuclear Power Plant-2. The fabrication cost is around $400 million and the proposed FFP will help achieve self-reliance of PWR fuel fabrication technology.

The nuclear power fuel testing project will be built at a cost of Rs1.2 billion. Its main objective is to establish experimental infrastructures to qualify the indigenously produced fuel system, covering its mechanical, thermal, hydraulic and functional requirement aspects. It will help attain the testing and analysis capability for nuclear fuel systems and resolve manufacturing, design and safety issues.

The Seamless Tube Plant-1 will be built at a cost of Rs3.5 billion and its prime objective is to set up an infrastructure for the production of structural materials (Zr-4/SS tubes and rods) to be used by the fuel fabrication plant