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Pakistan To Acquire 3 Nuclear Plants From China Wort $13 billion.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The government here is in talks with China to acquire three large nuclear power plants for around $13 billion, officials said, a blow to international efforts to restrict trade in nuclear technology.
A deal to purchase three reactors would be in addition to last year's agreement for China to build two nuclear plants in Pakistan's southern port of Karachi.
The reactors would help plug the gap in Pakistan's electricity supply and cement an alliance with China aimed at counteracting their mutual rival India.
U.S. officials expressed concern at the possibility of a deal, which would bypass international rules against nuclear exports to countries that, like Pakistan, haven't signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Negotiations are continuing with China "for three more plants," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told a cabinet meeting this month, according to those present. The discussions about additional plants had previously not been made public.
The three Chinese reactors would likely be placed in the center of the country, at Muzaffargarh, in Punjab province, at a site now being prepared, officials said.
Two other advanced 1,100-megawatt reactors from China are due to be built near the southern port of Karachi, under a $9 billion agreement completed last year. Mr. Sharif led the groundbreaking ceremony for the reactors in November.
Fixing Pakistan's electricity crisis is a priority for Mr. Sharif, who was elected in May. The energy shortage is a constraint on his effort to boost economic growth and curb violence. Coal-fueled, hydroelectric and nuclear energy plants are all planned to plug the shortfall.
An international body called the Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which China is a member, is supposed to bar the export of nuclear technology or fuel to countries that have not signed the treaty. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and isn't a signatory.
Moreover, the scientist behind Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, A.Q. Khan, in 2004 acknowledged sharing the country's nuclear secrets with North Korea and Libya.
A senior U.S. official said of the latest reactor plan: "This does cause us concerns because of the commitments within the Nuclear Suppliers Group. It is also a U.S.-China issue."
China says that its nuclear trade with Pakistan predates its membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and is therefore protected. India is also not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The 2005 U.S.-India civil nuclear deal led to India being given an exemption to import nuclear materials by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
"The India-U.S. nuclear deal was discriminatory," said Mushahid Hussain, a lawmaker for the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and head of the Senate defense committee. "It was meant to prop up India against China."
Mark Hibbs, an expert on nuclear issues at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an independent research organization based in Washington, said that the Nuclear Suppliers Group was "clearly in a crisis that has continued to escalate" as a result of the trade taking place with India and Pakistan. The rules of the group aren't binding, he said.
Although the U.S.-India nuclear deal is about power plants, Pakistan sees it as also having military implications.
The agreement allows India to buy uranium on the international market, freeing up its own uranium for use in its nuclear weapons program. China's unilateral trade with Pakistan provides Islamabad with similar benefits.
Pakistan produces 12,000 MW to 14,000 MW of electricity, while demand is at least 18,000 MW, the ministry of power says, causing hours of power outages nationwide every day. Demand is set to rise sharply with the ballooning population, which is projected to almost double by 2050.
Nuclear energy provides just 750 MW of the power, through two existing Chinese 330 MW plants at Chashma, in Punjab province, and a tiny, aged, plant outside Karachi. China is building two more plants of the same size at Chashma, boosting output to 1,400 MW by 2016.
The plan is to acquire much larger 1,100 MW plants from China, including the two new reactors for Karachi.
China is the only country willing to supply Pakistan with nuclear plants, and Pakistan is its sole market for nuclear exports, providing an outlet for Beijing's hopes of selling its nuclear technology more widely.
"It is very difficult for the Pakistan government to get such a full package of support from any other place in the world," said Li Ning, an expert on China's nuclear industry at Xiamen University.
Ansar Parvez, chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which builds and runs the country's nuclear plants, said Pakistan aims to generate 8,800 MW of nuclear power by 2030. "When we're talking to the Chinese, we're discussing how to get to 8,800 MW by 2030," said Mr. Parvez.
We'll continue talking to them until we meet the 2030 target."
That target requires Pakistan to build six to seven large nuclear plants, including the two already scheduled for Karachi. Each such plant costs $4 billion to $4.5 billion, said Mr. Parvez.
China's Foreign Ministry didn't respond to a written request for comment on the latest negotiations, nor did state-owned China National Nuclear Corp., which has sold reactors to Pakistan previously.
A spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, defended the countries' nuclear cooperation in December, which she said was in accordance with the countries' international obligations.
"In the future, the Chinese side wishes to continue offering help to the best of its ability to resolve the electricity-shortage issue," Ms. Hua had said.
—Brian Spegele in Beijing contributed to this article.
Source: Pakistan in Talks to Acquire 3 Nuclear Plants From China - WSJ.com
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