Nuclear Energy: a viable option for

Pakistan
Why Nuclear Energy?
Currently a major portion of energy is derived by the combustion of coal, oil
and natural gas, which release lots of carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere
that significantly contributes to the greenhouse effect, Changing climates,
capricious weather patterns, dying species and out-of-control epidemics are
the consequences of the above energy resources.
Nuclear energy is one of the least air-polluting alternative sources of energy.
Less land is required to set up nuclear plants, and the fission of an atom of
uranium produces 10 million times the energy produced by the combustion
of an atom of carbon from coal. The greatest threat is the radio-active waste
that is produced when nuclear energy is used to produce energy. This can be
countered by respective nuclear regulatory authorities.
Countries with high oil resources are also leaning towards nuclear energy.
The starting cost of nuclear energy systems installation are quite high but
that can be compensated by its generation cost, high reliability and
environment friendly. The nuclear energy is consistent and invariant once
installed.

Need of Nuclear Energy in Pakistan:

According to survey by department of petroleum and natural resources of
Pakistan there will be a 50 per cent increase in primary energy demand
between 2014 and 2030. Pakistan plans to increase its nuclear capacity to
8,800 MW by 2030.
Pakistan is a developing country which is currently under severe energy crisis
which should be rely strongly on nuclear energy looking at its cost per unit
and an environmental friendly alternative. Nuclear energy has the lowest
cost per unit electricity generation. It can be evaluated that if oil prices
increase with a corresponding increase in natural gas prices, as a result gas
power generation costs will be much higher in comparison to nuclear power
generation. It can be debated that uranium prices are also increasing and
hence they will adversely affect the nuclear power generation cost but it
must be noted that nuclear power plant fuel cost contribution to the overall
cost of the electric production is relatively small. Thus even a huge increase
in the fuel price will have a minor effect on the electricity production cost.
For instance, a doubling of the uranium market price would increase the fuel
cost for a light water reactor by 26 per cent and the electricity cost by about

7 per cent whereas doubling the gas price would typically add 70 per cent to
the price of electricity from that source.
Pakistans power shortage problem is not only impacting the living standard
of its people but countrys economy as-well. An integrated energy plan is
needed to alleviate its power crisis.
To find out an environment-friendly source and at the same time costeffective for electricity generation, nuclear energy at present is the best
option. Nuclear power is safe, economical and environment friendly. It is very
clear that Pakistan needs to aggressively pursue ways to increase its powergenerating capacity with nuclear as a best option available. All Pakistan
needs is to set more and more nuclear power plants to overcome the energy
deficiency. Pakistan should continue to refine and modernize its technical
capabilities, and train with skills. Pakistan needs to cut back its nondevelopment expenditures to invest in the power sector to develop the
infrastructure and establish power plants using nuclear technology. Although,
a nuclear power plants is expensive to build but provide low cost service over
the life of the plant, once it is in service. Nuclear fuel is the lowest cost fuel.
If reduction of greenhouse gasses emission is considered to be of higher
priority, then nuclear power is the best available technology for energy
generation.
Civilian nuclear power agreement with the international nuclear community
can play an important role in this regard. Civilian nuclear agreement would
make Pakistan more stable, more prosperous and will improve the living
standard of the people. It can be concluded that a civilian nuclear agreement
would be a positive achievement for Pakistan.

Problems with Other Power Resources:

Gas, oil and coal are other means of producing electricity. These are available
24/7 but how much of these fuels could be inducted for power generation
depends on their cost, exploitability, logistics and environmental impact.
Wind and solar are dependent on climatic cycles and daylight respectively.
The solar insolation in Pakistan is among the highest in the world. Yet no
solar power plant in the world can run 24 hours a day. And this is what makes
the power output, the availability factor of such plants so low. Per unit cost of
Wind and Solar electricity is much higher than national grid averages.
Hydro power generation is the cheapest, followed by domestic gas, nuclear,
domestic coal, imported gas, and imported coal and oil. Their weak areas are
heavy infrastructure and efficient storage systems. While construction of
large dams politicized and domestic gas supply dwindling, the nuclear
power emerges as one of the top viable options for Pakistan.