The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday barred Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) from commencing work on twin nuclear power plants in Karachi without adhering to the environmental laws. Headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, a division bench also issued notices to PAEC and Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) chairmen, Sindh Environmental Protection Agency's (Sepa) director general, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency's (Pepa) chairman and Environmental and Alternative Energy Department Sindh to file comments on a petition by November 11.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Dr Pervaiz Amirali Hoodbhoy and others, who had approached the court challenging Sepa's environmental impact assessment (EIA) report that accorded its approval to establishment of two nuclear power plants in Karachi.
The counsel for petitioners submitted that PAEC had started preparing the site for two large nuclear power plants in Karachi, namely K-2 and K-3, and each of these reactors will produce approximately 1100 megawatt power. He said the twin nuclear reactors will be designed and built by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). These reactors will be based on a design known as the ACP-1000. He said these types of reactors are not even operating in China as they only exist on the paper and in computer. This type of rectors will be used for the first time in Karachi.
He said the safety precautions, which are required to be adopted by authorities, are still unclear and uncertain, posing a serious threat to health and life of the people of the city. The counsel said that nuclear accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011 and Ukraine's Chernobyl in 1987 have raised serious concerns about the safety measures and required a large-scale evacuation to save the people from deadly radioactivity blown from the nuclear plant. He told the judges that Karachi, which is densely populated, lacks infrastructure for mass evacuation in case of a possible nuclear accident.
The counsel submitted that PAEC had approached the Sepa for its approval on the project. Subsequently it issued environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the project while approving it. He argued that EIA report was issued without complying with provisions of related environment laws as no public hearing was held regarding suitability of the site for the nuclear plants in Karachi. Therefore, he requested the court to declare Sepa's approval to the project illegal and direct authorities to conduct public hearing on the project.
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