Peaceful N-programme: Attainment of SDGs

When the United Nations adopted the 2030 Development Agenda in 2015, Pakistan fully embraced all its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), which has pioneered Pakistan’s peaceful uses of nuclear technology since its creation in 1955, is applying nuclear science for achieving 11 of these SDGs as discussed below.

As its core function, PAEC has been providing affordable and clean nuclear energy since the mid-1960s when the KANUPP reactor in Karachi was setup.

Four reactors were then setup at Chasma starting in 1991. Additionally, two more reactors, K-2 and K-3, located in Karachi, became operational since 2022-2023.

Another reactor, Chasma 5, is presently under construction. The total energy output of Pakistan’s six reactors is 3530 MW, contributing almost 18 percent to the national electricity grid. All these advancements aim to promote SDG-7 (Affordable and Clean Energy).

Nuclear Technology facilitates plant breading and genetics; soil fertility and irrigation technology; animal production and health; insect and pest control; chemical residues and pollution and food preservation.

This contributes to improving livelihoods and reducing hunger. Relevant PAEC facilities are — Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Peshawar; Nuclear Institute for Agriculture, Tando Jam; Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology, Faisalabad; and National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad. All these initiatives are designed to contribute to SDG1 and 2, which focus on poverty alleviation and achieving zero hunger.

To achieve SDG-3 (Good Health and Well Being), PAEC has adopted nuclear technologies for diverse medical treatments, using different radio isotopes for both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

These include creating images of blood vessels, the brain, and other internal organs (CT Scan, MRI), and helping to destroy harmful growths.

Similarly, radio pharmaceuticals are used to deliver appropriate doses of radiation to specific tissues, while radio isotopes can also be used to tag and trace individual molecules, to facilitate the study of genetics and identify individual DNA. Moreover, gamma radiation is used increasingly for sterilization of medical products and instruments.

PAEC’s nuclear medicine institutions are: Atomic Energy Medical Center, Islamabad; Karachi Institute of Radio Therapy and Nuclear Medicine; Multan Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radio Therapy; Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology, Islamabad; Punjab Institute of Nuclear Medicine; Institute of Radio therapy and Nuclear Medicine; and Nuclear Medicine, Oncology, and Radio therapy institute.

PAEC has significantly concentrated on human resource development aligning with SDG-4, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all. In 1967, the “Reactor School” at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Sciences and Technology (PINSTEC) was setup.

This school has been upgraded to the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) in 1997. It now offers BS, MS and PhD programmes, apart from short courses, in engineering, nuclear medicine, physics, mathematics, computer sciences and management. Another institute, the Karachi Institute of Power Engineering (KINPoE), offers degree and diploma programmes in nuclear power engineering and post-graduate training programs in nuclear technology.

In vital area of SDG-6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), PAEC employs nuclear techniques, such as environmental isotopes and artificial radioactive tracers to provide services in the fields of groundwater dynamics, groundwater recharge mechanism, residence time and origin of groundwater, surface water and groundwater relationships, leakage and seepage from hydrological bodies like dams and canals, water logging and salinity, water quality and pollution dynamics. Stable isotopes mass spectrometry along with tritium dating is also being used to determine the source of moisture and the age of ice and melt water at glaciers, as well as run-off analysis in the Indus water system.

To advance SDG-9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), PAEC supports industry and infrastructure in various ways. This includes the Heavy Mechanical Complex, which produces nuclear safety equipment and the National Center for Non-destructive Testing, which uses radioactivity for measuring wear and tear of mechanical parts in engines, servicing the petrochemical industry, Oil and Gas plants, Refineries, Fertilizer plants and Electrical utilities.

PAEC also provides Process Control and Plant Diagnostics for industrial measurements using radioisotopes. Moreover, Neutron Probes lowered into oil test wells are used to calculate the amount of hydrocarbons in the well.

Coming to SDG-13 addressing climate action, nuclear science has dual application for climate action, involving the study of past climate impact and mitigation of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. PAEC is using the Isotope Dating method, involving stable isotopes, as tools for investigating past climate variations.

On the mitigation side, PAEC’s nuclear power plants produce clean energy, avoiding 40 million tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions; while its agriculture research centers are using radiation mutation and biotechnology techniques to develop crop varieties with low CO2 emissions.

PAEC is using radioactivity baseline studies for monitoring coastal and aquatic areas for sustainable use of the marine ecosystems in coordination with National Institute of Oceanography. This is highly useful to protect the mangrove forest along the Karachi Coast and aligns with SDG-14, which focuses on conserving and sustainably using oceans, seas, and marine resources.

Soil erosion and salinity are the two areas in which PAEC is actively involved in mitigation and reclamation projects, contributing to the goals of SDG 15, which focuses on life on land and sustainable land management.

Fallout Radionuclides are used as indicators of soil erosion and erosion hotspots, and to reverse land degradation. To tackle salinity, the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology has developed means to control and reverse salinity while also developing saline tolerant plant species. So far over 10,000 hectares of saline land have been reclaimed.

PAEC is playing a pivotal role in fostering partnerships and collaboration, aligning with SDG-17, which emphasizes the importance of partnerships for achieving sustainable development goals. It has extensive collaboration with the IAEA departments for Technical Cooperation, Nuclear Sources and Applications and Safety and Security, apart from serving member states with its Regional Resource Units.

PAEC is also a member of the Regional Cooperative Agreement in the Asia-Pacific; the World Association of Nuclear Operators; Center in Europe for Nuclear Research (CERN); Synchrotron Light for Experimental Sciences and Application (SESAME); the International Foundation for Sciences involving PAEC’s agriculture centers; International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center; International Rice Research Institute; and the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. PAEC’s international outreach also includes International Nathia Gali Summer College held regularly since 1976, for sharing Knowledge and best practices.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024