Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) experts defended the environmental aspect of the upcoming Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit-5 (Chashma-5) during the public hearing of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report. PAEC had earlier submitted the EIA Report of C-5 Nuclear Power Plant to the Environment Protection Department (EPD) Punjab. After preliminary scrutiny, EPD admitted the application to accord environmental approval required under section 12 of Punjab Environmental Protection Act 1997 and directed the proponent to make arrangements for its public hearing.
EPD, Punjab advertised a Public Notice in national as well as local newspapers a month prior to the hearing, inviting public comments/proposals on the EIA Report that was made available at the site office of Chashma-5, offices of the environmental regulator and the proponent in various cities of Pakistan. At the same time, a downloadable copy of the EIA Report was also made available at PAEC official website.
The Public Hearing event of C-5 was attended by the local public and people from different segments of the society. However, in the context of COVID-19, the organizers ensured the implementation of social distancing and precautionary SOPs during the event.
In order to cater to the accessibility of stakeholders, an online Zoom link was also provided on the official website for remote participants. A number of online registered participants took part in the Public Hearing proceedings through Zoom and asked questions that were responded to in detail by the experts from PAEC.
Officials from EPD Punjab, PAEC, and Chashma Nuclear Power Generation Stations (CNPGS) complex attended the Public Hearing. On this occasion, DG, NPP, and GM CNPGS gave detailed presentations on ‘Nuclear Power Program of Pakistan’ and ‘CNPGS Power Production’, respectively, which was followed by an interactive question-answer (Q&A) session.
CNPGS currently hosts four operational nuclear power plants named Chashma-1 to Chashma-4 producing 1330 MW of electricity with above 95 percent availability and capacity factors. Recently two of these NPPs, C-2 and C-4 made national records of continuous operation for over one year. With the construction of Chashma-5 NPP, the national grid will be getting another 1100MW of electricity to meet the country’s growing energy needs. PAEC has an enviable 48 years of operational experience since its Karachi Nuclear Power Plant Unit-1 (KANUPP-1) got connected to the national grid back in 1972.
