Local Pakistani media houses recently gathered and announced that a very solid plan has been mapped out to generate 8,000MW of electricity through nuclear means to overcome energy crises.
Speaking at the 59th International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna, the chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Muhammad Naeem said his commission has “chalked out a plan to generate 8,000MW of electricity through nuclear means in order to help the country overcome its energy crisis”.
He said the PAEC was also providing peaceful applications of nuclear technology to the masses in the form of 18 oncology hospitals where approximately 80 per cent of the country’s cancer patients were treated annually.
He said the PAEC also plans to expand its services by setting up more nuclear medical centres in the future.
A Radio Pakistan aired that Muhammad Naeem, said “according to the Nuclear Energy Vision 2050, Pakistan envisages nuclear power generation capacity of 40,000 Mega Watts (MW)”.
As the country marks the 19th anniversary of nuclear power launch on Sunday May 28th, in an interview with MCR correspondent, one of the brains behind the initiative, Syed Kazim Raza, a retired army officer who served and commanded various Pakistani sensitive installations and intelligence units said the nuclear power was primarily launched in 1998 in order to “feel safe from a nuclear state neighbor that fought three wars with the country”.
“Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and other related government agencies have also benefited from the initiative by producing nuclear power generation plant which significantly adds to our economy,” he added.
The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) is an independent governmental authority and a scientific research institution, concerned with research and development of nuclear power, promotion of nuclear science, energy conservation and the peaceful usage of nuclear technology. Since its establishment in 1956, the PAEC has overseen the extensive development of nuclear infrastructure to support the economical uplift of Pakistan by founding institutions that focus on development on food irradiation and on nuclear medicine radiation therapy for cancer treatment. The PAEC organizes conferences and directs research at the country’s leading universities. Since the 1960s, the PAEC is also a scientific research partner and sponsor of CERN, where Pakistani scientists have contributed to developing particle accelerators and research on high-energy physics.[6] PAEC scientists regularly pay visits to CERN while taking part in projects led by CERN.
