June 16, 2022: The gross capacity of nuclear power plants (NPPs) witnessed a 39 percent increase during the period of July-March FY22 as compared to the last fiscal year 2020-21.

According to the official data, the total generation from various nuclear plants stood at 3,530 MW which supplied 12,885 million units of electricity to the national grid during July-March FY2022.

“This shows an increase of 39 percent in terms of MW and 82 percent increase in terms of units supplied,” it further said.

During a period of July-March (FY 2020021), the gross capacity of the nuclear power plants was 2,530 MW which transmitted about 7,076 million units to the national grid.

The government has formulated several policies for the development of the power sector in the past which aimed at eliminating inefficiencies in an existing generation, transmission and distribution systems, as well as diversification of the energy generation mix with maximum utilization of indigenous energy resources to supply reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.

The development of nuclear power remained the responsibility of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Currently, PAEC is generating electricity through six nuclear power plants in the country which are operating on two sites. Among these six plants, two units (K-2, K-3) are in Karachi while four units (C-1, C-2, C-3 & C-4) are at Chashma, Mianwali.

Despite COVID-19 difficulties, the nuclear power plants performed effectively by supplying uninterrupted and continuous power at the highest capacity factors. One of these plants, K-2 has made a new record in Pakistan’s history by operating for 100 days continuously since its commercial operation date, becoming the first nuclear power generation plant to achieve this milestone.

Meanwhile, the total electricity generation capacity from July-April 2022 has increased by 11.5 percent and it reached 41,557 MW from 37261 MW during the same period last fiscal year.

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