Pakistan Breaks Ground on Nuclear Plant Project With China
By SALMAN MASOOD and CHRIS BUCKLEY
Published: November 26, 2013
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday ceremonially broke ground on a $9.59 billion nuclear power complex to be built in Karachi with China’s help, seeking to ease Pakistan’s long-running energy crisis and signaling a new step by China in becoming a top nuclear supplier.
The deal, which officials said was still being finalized, is a major new
advance in energy cooperation between the two countries, dwarfing
previous reactor projects built along with China at Chashma, in
Pakistan’s interior. And it establishes a growing counterpoint to a
nuclear axis between the United States and India in recent years that
Pakistani officials have seen as an irritant and Chinese officials have
seen as a geopolitical challenge.
“The beginning of the 2,200-megawatt power project is indeed a proud
moment in the energy history of Pakistan,” Mr. Sharif said at the
ceremony, adding that the construction was to be completed in six years.
The Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong, and officials from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission attended.
Energy supply remains one of the most pressing concerns in Pakistan, and
it was a major issue in the general elections last May, when Mr. Sharif
promised to end crippling shortages. After taking office, his first
visit was to China, where he discussed the nuclear power plant project.
Officials said the new project is to be built around two new-model
Chinese ACP-1000 nuclear reactors, with China also providing enriched
uranium for fuel.
However, Pakistani officials have provided few details of how they plan to finance it.
In September, the International Monetary Fund approved a $6.6 billion loan to help stabilize Pakistan’s struggling economy and tackle the energy crisis.
Mr. Sharif did not mention financing in his speech, but he said that he
has assured the Chinese investors that his government “will support them
in every way.”
China has signaled its intent to expand nuclear energy cooperation with
Pakistan in joint statements from their leaders, said Zhang Li, an
expert on Pakistan at the Institute of South Asian Studies at Sichuan
University in southwest China.
“Both countries have expressed their willingness to expand cooperation
in civilian nuclear energy,” Mr. Zhang said in a telephone interview.
“In that sense, you didn’t need a crystal ball to see this project
coming.”
The new project is not without potential controversy. In the years since
China and Pakistan agreed to build the first reactor at Chashma, China
has joined both the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an agreement by 47 countries to limit exports of nuclear technology and materials.
Mr. Zhang said that China is almost certain to deem the new projects as a
“grandfathered” extension of the countries’ earlier nuclear deals
signed before China joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
“My analysis is that this issue won’t trigger too much controversy,” Mr.
Zhang said. “The Indian government will certainly respond, but I don’t
think that this will fundamentally harm Sino-Indian relations, because
it’s not something that has come out of the blue. China and India have
exchanged views on this many times.”
On the supplier group’s likely response, Mr. Zhang said: “I don’t think
the N.S.G. will formally raise this issue, because the experience in the
past was that the members would reach an implicit understanding, and so
this issue never caused a big fuss in previous N.S.G. meetings.”
One of the main events considered to have weakened the Nuclear Suppliers
Group, in fact, was the 2005 commercial nuclear deal between the United
States and India, which like Pakistan developed nuclear weapons in the
face of global pressure. The deal has been a lasting source of outrage
for Pakistani officials.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not commented on the project
with Pakistan. Yet in the past, it has said that China’s nuclear
cooperation with Pakistan is entirely peaceful and comes under
International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
Pakistan has also sought to bridge its energy shortfall through a gas
pipeline deal with Iran. That has been hung up by international
sanctions against Iran, but Pakistani officials have continued to push
for it. On Tuesday, Mr. Sharif’s chief foreign policy adviser, Sartaj
Aziz, was in Iran to discuss the project.
Mr. Sharif on Tuesday also announced plans to build six more civilian
nuclear plants in other parts of the country. But Mr. Zhang said that
China was unlikely to build any more nuclear reactors in Pakistan beyond
the two units in Karachi.
The choice of Karachi is significant because it is considered Pakistan’s
economic and trade center, and its coastal location also provides ample
water for use in reactor cooling.
“Today people look with envy toward cities like Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuala
Lumpur and Singapore,” Mr. Sharif said in his speech, which was
broadcast live. “I wish to see Karachi in this list of harbors and
industrial hubs.”
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