'Beyond design accident': Karachi is under environmental surveillance for N-radioactivity

The civil nuclear scientists at Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) have put in place a four-pronged environmental radiological surveillance programme (ERSP) in this densely populated metropolis which, civil society organisations apprehend, is now more exposed to a "beyond design accident" of nuclear character.
What really is risking the safety of about 20 million violence-hit Karachiites, Shehri's senior physicist Dr A.H. Nayyar believes, is the extension of KANUPP having been adding 137 megawatts of nuclear power to the national grid since 1972. The proposed KANUPP-2 and KANUPP-3 are being developed at Hawks Bay to generate 2,200MW of electricity to contain the lingering power crisis in the energy-scarce country.
"The two proposed nuclear power plants... could potentially pose grave risks to the citizens and environment of Karachi," Dr Nayyar told reporters here at Karachi Press Club Thursday. He was flanked by Karamat Ali of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Saeed Baloch of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), Dr Haroon Ahmed of Forum for Secular Pakistan, Zahid Farooq of Urban Resource Centre (URC) and members of Shehri. Though the civil society representatives don't tend to buy their claims, the nuclear scientists at KANUPP say that their preparedness and planning to deal with a nuclear emergency, the emission of radioactive material, was flawless.
"Emergency plans for KANUPP are in place and approved by Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA)," Azfar Minhaj, general manager K-2 and K-3, told Business Recorder. The procedures for these emergency plans, he said, were periodically updated and tested in the face of emergency exercises under PNRA's supervision. The nuclear facility, however, is maintaining a regular radiological surveillance system in the city through employing ERSP. The programme, according to Muhammad Faraz, senior nuclear scientist at KANUPP, was duly endorsed by PNRA and includes four types of surveillance activities: ambient dose rate monitoring (ADRM), airborne activity monitoring (AAM), environmental sampling and analysis (ESA) and tritium in water activity monitoring (TWAM).
Under ADRM, the scientists have installed at least 15 Thermo Luminescent Dosimeters (TLDs) to monitor the ambient dose rate radiation. While five of the TLDs were placed at the plant periphery, 10 other devices were gauging the level of radiology across the city round-the-clock. The city neighbourhoods under KANUPP surveillance include Clifton, Sadder, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Orangi Town, Federal B Area, North Karachi, Drig Colony, KANUPP Colony, Abdul Rehman Goth and Faqeer Muhammad Goth.
"Data (for the city) remains in the range of 0.09 to 0.15 micro sievert per hour (uSv/hour) which is normal background dose rate," Faraz said. Also, the scientists have installed three operating air samplers at Sandspit, 13 kilometers away form the plant in KANUPP Colony and Kiran Hospital of KDA Scheme 33. "The filters of air samplers are sent to the PINSTEC," the scientist said adding that his side also was conducting on monthly basis portable air sampling within five kilometers area of the civil nuclear facility.
In these samplings, Faraz said, only naturally occurring radionuclides, like Be-7 and K-40, had so far been found. Thirdly, under ESA, environmental samples are collected twice a year from the area located within 5-10 kilometers of the plant. The samples are taken from soil, milk, grass, water and sea water. "We also collect fish samples annually from sea near to liquid discharge conduit," the scientist said.
To monitor tritium or H-3 sampling is carried out using the underground water in wells and the sea. All these safety measures, however, fall short of satisfying the civil society representatives, who are haunted by deadly international nuclear tragedies having taken place in Ukrain and most recently in Japan.
"Due to its (KANUPP's) proximity to the city, the project exposes the city population to grave risks from a possible Chernobyl or Fukushima like reactor accident," apprehended Dr Nayyar. Fearing what he called them "beyond design accidents" like a possible terrorist attack or bombing of the plan during wartime, the environmental activist said the country's nuclear establishment should take into account every aspect, especially studies like EIA that ensures safety of masses.
This was not the case Dr Nayyar lamented and flayed the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) for running its affairs in a manner contrary to its own regulations. SEPA, he said, had advertised in two "niche" newspapers on April 11 a notice inviting public opinion to a 2400-page Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report in a short span of 16 days by April 27 when SEPA would be holding a public hearing at "severely restricted" premises of KANUPP.
The public interest notice, he said, should have appeared in newspapers so widely circulated that it could reach as many people as possible. Further, he said even the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which Pakistan's nuclear establishment claims to closely follow along with the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC), takes six months to a year in reviewing an EIA of a new power plant. "This is the least that should be followed in Pakistan too," Dr Nayyar said.
Dr Nayyar demanded that the April 27 deadline be extended at least for three months and the SEPA's public hearing be held at a venue that was easily accessible for the commoners. "In our first study, we have noticed serious flaws in the EIA, and if the same is approved in haste using unfair means, we see the project having potential to cause grave harm to the city population," he said. Otherwise, he claimed, SEPA's April 27 event would be an exercise in futility and "a whole farce". "Boycotting the hearing sees a better option if they don't change the venue," said Baloch of PFF.