Energy crisis: ‘Lack of power biggest threat to Pakistan’

KARACHI: Energy crisis is the single largest security threat being faced by Pakistan at the moment. All other threats revolve around it. Nuclear scientists, politicians and social scientists pledged to overcome the energy crisis through all means possible when they spoke at a seminar at Regent Plaza hotel on Saturday. The seminar, titled ‘Energy Security of Pakistan All Sources Including Nuclear One’, was organised by the Rabita Forum International. The forum’s chairperson, Nusrat Mirza, explained that the seminar was aimed to educate people regarding nuclear power and to address any questions they may have regarding the new nuclear power plants under construction in Karachi. Dr Ansar Pervez, the chairperson of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) said that Pakistanis only spoke about energy crises but never took steps to resolve the issue. Moreover, they liked to criticise those who tried to resolve it, he lamented. “We are energy-starved. We have to make use of all the energy sources, including nuclear power to meet our requirements,” he said. PAEC has 40 years of experience in the nuclear field and has run the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (Kanupp) when Canada had stopped their fuel supply. Dr Pervez termed Kanupp a success story and also shed light on the Chashma C-1 and C-2 projects which were completed by the PAEC before their scheduled time and were running at good capacity. Speaking about the safety of nuclear power, he refuted the idea of radiation emission from nuclear power plants, saying that the radiation from nuclear power plants was less than seismic radiation that people were exposed to every day. “Over 15,000 of our workers have been working in Chashma for years and all are safe and sound. They have healthy children and a generation has grown up there,” he said. He also briefed about the K-2 and K-3 nuclear power plants which are going to be installed in Karachi saying that the reactors which will be installed in the twin plants will have advanced safety and security measures, including double containments and active and passive safety systems that can better cope with an emergency. Former federal minister for information, Javed Jabbar, stressed on the need to conserve the existing energy sources along with moving ahead in acquiring more energy. “If we simply focus on conservation, we can largely overcome the existing energy crises,” he said, citing the examples of water wastage in the agriculture sector. Jabbar also stressed on the provincial governments to look for alternate energy resources to resolve the crisis. Dr Talat Wizarat of the Institute of Business Administration, in her speech, discussed the issues raised by the civil society against the installation of nuclear power plants in Karachi. She said that all the other security concepts revolved around the energy security and debates were needed to be held to understand it and address the issues related to it. Dr Shahida Wizarat of the Institute of Business Management presented a comparison of the energy sources available to Pakistan. Dr Wizarat criticised the use of fossil fuels to produce energy, claiming it was very expensive and was dependent on imports from other countries. “Pakistan should change its energy mass and reduce the thermal power, replacing it with coal and nuclear power,” she advised. Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2014.