Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), over the years, has built an extensive infrastructure for contributing to the economic uplift of the country. Its activities span an extremely wide spectrum: from nuclear power generation to minerals development, from developing high yielding, stress tolerant crops to the treatment of cancer, design and fabrication of industrial plants/equipment to human resource development.
NUCLEAR ENERGY: Nuclear power is pollution free, cost competitive and safe. It is independent of seasonal effects and provides security of electricity supply. Owing to these unique characteristics, it augurs well for sustainable development. PAEC is successfully operating two nuclear power plants with a third one upcoming, has 47 reactor-years of safe operating experience at its credit and plans to build more nuclear power plants in the coming years to contribute to the energy requirements of the country.
MINERALS DEVELOPMENT:
-- Prospecting, exploration and processing of minerals for local industry, and provision of expert geo-technical services in these areas
-- Indigenous development of nuclear fuel and materials for local nuclear power plants
INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL: PAEC undertakes design and installation of Instrumentation & Control Systems for petrochemical plants and general industry. Various large-scale industries are being provided services in this area.
SUPPORT TO THE INDUSTRY: PAEC is assisting the industry in its growth and competitive capability by providing technical services:
-- Provides design and fabrication services for the manufacture of large-scale mechanical systems, complete plants and modules
-- Offers training/certification in welding techniques and site services for manufacturing & installation of plants
-- Offers training/certification in Non-Destructive Testing Techniques along with services for testing of manufactured equipment and in-service inspection of plants
CANCER TREATMENT HOSPITALS: PAEC is running 13 state-of-the-art cancer treatment hospitals all over the country which are providing diagnostic and treatment services for cancer related diseases to around 500,000 patients annually. Five more such hospitals will be added shortly.
AGRICULTURE & BIOTECHNOLOGY:
-- PAEC has developed 61 new high yielding, stress tolerant crops, which are fetching about Rs 10 billion additional annual income to the farmers
-- Providing Saline Agriculture Technology for economic utilisation of salt-affected lands in the country
-- Expert services in this area are provided to IAEA member countries
-- Food irradiation services for enhancing shelf life of fruits and vegetables
-- Indigenous development of a low cost Laser Land Leveler, which drastically reduces irrigation water requirement to crops
-- Leading role in Bio-Tech research and applications
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT:
-- Solving local industrial problems through Research & Development
-- Contributing to basic research in collaboration with world scientific bodies.
Based upon the excellence of its research labs and human resource quality, PINSTECH, a research institute of PAEC has been declared Regional Resource Centre of IAEA.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT: Offers Masters and Ph.D. degree programmes in Systems Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Nuclear Medicine, Information Technology, Medical Physics, Nuclear Power Engineering, Materials Engineering and Process Engineering at its own educational institutions like Pakistan Institute of Engineering & Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Computer Training Centre (CTC) and KANUPP Institute of Nuclear Power Engineering (KINPOE).