The Pakistan Nuclear Power Fuel Complex (PNPFC), also known as Chemical Reprocessing Plant (CrP), is a
nuclear energy
Nuclear energy may refer to:
*Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity
* Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom
*Nuclear potential energy
...
and
reprocessing industrial complex for the
PWR-type reactors.
The NPFC-I is a dual purpose nuclear power plant, with a net capacity of 1000
MWe
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
, located 175 km south of
Islamabad.
The reactor is designed for converting
U3O8 to
natural UF6, and enriched UF
6 into
powder, then converted depleted UF
6 into
depleted uranium
Depleted uranium (DU; also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy or D-38) is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope than natural uranium.: "Depleted uranium possesses only 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium, hav ...
metal and produced
zircon ingot.
The PNPFC is ingeniously constructed by the
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) under the
IAEA
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
terms, as IAEA is funding this megaproject.
History
In 1978, PAEC had built its own dual purpose nuclear reprocessing plant, near at
Nilore
Nilore ( ur, ) is a townsite-city in the Islamabad Capital Territory of Pakistan, located and established in the district limit of Islamabad. The city is located in the vicinity of Islamabad, and controlled under the Capital Territory Police (C ...
, and it is known as The New Labs. Since then, PAEC has built an extensive nuclear infrastructure in the country, under the direction of
Munir Ahmad Khan.
IN 2006, PAEC announced its plans for the establishment of a $1.2 billion complex consisting of separate civil, enrichment, and fuel fabrication plants. It was to be constructed under IAEA guidelines, and was to be run separately from the existing facilities. According to the plan, the enrichment plant would be constructed at
Chak Jhumra in
Faisalabad District
Faisalabad District (Lyallpur District until 1979) ( Punjabi and ur, ) is one of the districts of Punjab province, Pakistan. According to the 1998 census of Pakistan it had a population of 3,029,547 of which almost 42% were in Faisalabad City ...
. In five years, it was to have a capacity of 150,000
separative work units
Separative work – the amount of separation done by an enrichment process – is a function of the concentrations of the feedstock, the enriched output, and the depleted tailings; and is expressed in units which are so calculated as to be proport ...
/year. Future plans pointed at increase of capacity in 150,000 SWU increments until it could supply a third of the enrichment needs of a 8800 MWe plant by the year 2030.
The Pakistan Nuclear Power Fuel Complex is being built for the production of nuclear fuel for the nuclear power plants to generate energy. The PNPFC is under IAEA safeguards and managed separately from Pakistan's nuclear weapons facilities. It has 1000 MW capacity and, since 2009, the 90% of work on the plant is complete and it should supply fuel in late 2010. Cost of the Pakistan Nuclear Power Fuel Complex (PNPFC) was originally estimated at Rs. 51.298
billion. The complex will fabricate fuel for local nuclear power plants, in particular for the reactors at
Chashma Nuclear Power Plant. The Nuclear Power Fuel Facility consists of chemical processing plants,
nuclear reprocessing plant, an
enrichment
Enrichment may refer to:
* Behavioral enrichment, the practice of providing animals under managed care with stimuli such as natural and artificial objects
* Data enrichment, appending or enhancing data with relevant context from other sources, se ...
plant, a seamless tube plant, a fuel fabrication plant; and a nuclear fuel testing facility.
/ref>
See also
* Chashma Nuclear Power Plant
* China-Pakistan Power Plant Corporation
* Karachi Nuclear Power Plant
* Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
References
External links
{{coord missing, Pakistan
Nuclear power in Pakistan
Nuclear power stations in Pakistan
Nuclear reprocessing sites
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission