Karachi Nuclear Power Complex

Large commercial nuclear power plant located at the Paradise Point in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (or KANUPP) is a large commercial nuclear power plant located at the Paradise Point in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Officially known as Karachi Nuclear Power Complex, The K 1 commenced its criticality operations in 1971 whereas K 2 was commenced its operations in 2021 with a gross power capacity of 1100 MWt. The K 3, with similar design to K 2, is due for official commissioning and commenced its criticality operations on 21 February 2022. After a lengthy and complicated negotiations with Canada, the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant was constructed by Canadian firms in 1965 and it went critical in August 1971 with a smaller CANDU type reactor– it provided energy and generated electricity to whole city of Karachi.

In 1960, Abdus Salam, then science adviser to Ayub administration, provided a strong advocacy for the industrial usage of the nuclear power in his country at the UN General Assembly, paving away a path for the establishment of the nuclear power plant. Despite the strong opposition from the officials in the Ayub administration, it was the personal efforts of Abdus Salam who had the funding and financing of the nuclear power plant approved from President Ayub Khan. Negotiations and talks took place with Canada over the supply of the nuclear power plant in Karachi and the contract was signed with General Electric Canada as the designer and employed the Montreal Engineering Company as its civil engineering firm in 1965. The decision making factor that was taken under consideration to sell the CANDU technology to Pakistan by Canada was seen as maintaining a balance of power between India and Pakistan. In 1966, the civil engineering and construction started by the Montreal Engineering Co. which finished its construction in 1971. Initially, Canada, through its contractor GE Canada, supplied the deuterium oxide moderator and the natural uranium but it wanted to eject from supporting the operations of the nuclear power plant after 1974 when India exploded the nuclear bomb whose fissile material was produced in CIRUS reactor initially supplied by Canada. In 1975, the GE Canada begin to charge Pakistan $27/lb for deuterium oxide which was expensive for the country's taxpayers to afford.

The first reactor unit at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant was a single CANDU type pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) with a total gross energy generation capacity of 137 Megawatts (MW). The fuel was natural uranium in the form of sintered uranium dioxide pellets sheathed in thin zirconium alloy tubes to form solid fuel elements about 19.1 inches (48.53 cm) long by 0.6 inches (1.4 cm) diameter. In addition, a reverse osmosis plant is also coupled with the nuclear power plant that is producing 454 m3/d of water for reactor usage. The Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA), the regulator of the nuclear power plant, extended its lifetime operation to 2012 (later to 2021), and kept 55.7% capacity factor with total energy generation of 137 MW. On 1 August 2021, the Canadian unit, K1, was ceased from its criticality operations and was phased out when it was decommissioning from the national grid system, marking the end of its 50 years of long operational services to the nation. From 1973 to 1979, K1 had an operation factor of 70.1%

[[File:HPR1000, cooling systems schemata. png|thumb|left|250px|small|Schema of Hualong On being installed in KANUPP 2. The K 2 is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) supplied by the China National Nuclear Corporation, and is jointly designed by the engineers of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. Construction of the KANUPP 2 begins on 20 August 2015 and the KANUPP 3's construction commenced on 31 May 2016. Both units are near completion and are expected to attain full energy capacity in 2021 and 2022 respectively. According to Dr. Ansar Pervaiz, then Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, said that Chinese banks have provided $6.5 Bn for this project as loans and the cold testing of the reactor system at the KANUPP 2 was commenced on 9 December 2019. KANUPP 2 was synchronised with the electricity grid on 18 March 2021. The China Zhongyuan Engineering Corporation (CZEC) is currently serving its civil engineering consultant for both reactors. On 2 December 2020, the loading of the nuclear fuel started with the clearance from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority. The criticality operation was successfully commenced on 3 March 2020. On 20 March 2021, the K2 was synchronized with the nation's electricity grid system, with PAEC terming the operation as "Pakistan Day gift" to the nation. On 28 May 2021, the nuclear power plant was operationalized with nation's energy system and was inaugurated with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The K3 is a first planned as an ACP 1000 nuclear reactor supplied by the China National Nuclear Corporation whose construction was commenced on 31 May 2016, being constructed alongside KANUPP 2 and the first steam engine was installed on 28 August 2018. On 1 January 2022, the fuel loading started on; and the nuclear power reactor was connected to the national grid system on 4 March 2022.

In 2023, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission submitted proposed a new design to the Ministry of Energy for establishing the nuclear power plant, K4, with a capacity of 1,400MW in Karachi Nuclear Power Complex.

Since 1973, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission engaged in joint educational venture with University of Karachi's physics department to sponsor degree programs in health physics and electronics engineering, and extended partnership with the NED University on electrical engineering, specifically the power engineering. The Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences in Islamabad operates and maintains the Institute of Power Engineering in Karachi that offers training programs and courses in nuclear, electrical, and mechanical engineering at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant.