Work to start on 3rd unit at Pakistani plant

Chinese company also reports progress in promoting its technology in Algeria and Sudan

Construction is expected to start next month on the third unit at the K3 plant, the Karachi nuclear power plant using a reactor developed by China National Nuclear Corp.

The plant is being built by CNNC using Hualong One, its own third-generation nuclear reactor design.

CNNC spokesman Pan Jianming said on May 30 that it is the second nuclear power project in Pakistan to use Hualong One technology, after construction started at the K2 plant in August.

"Hualong One was developed based on very mature technologies, and the project is going very smoothly. It will help ease power shortages in the Karachi region after completion," Pan told a forum in Fuqing, Fujian province, where the Hualong One pilot project is based.

CNNC has been accelerating its efforts to sell the technology to overseas buyers, and Pan says inroads have been made this year in countries such as Algeria and Sudan.

Although at the early stages, he says an initial agreement has been reached with Algerian energy authorities for the development of a nuclear research center. The two parties will look at the use of Hualong One technology and at renewable energy projects.

The cooperation is expected to include technical and training services, in a country that has yet to develop any nuclear power stations.

CNNC signed a framework deal last week with Sudan to build a 600-megawatt atomic reactor, its first project in the African country.

"One reactor may be worth several billion dollars, but there could be deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars further down the industrial chain," says Li Zhuoqun, deputy director of CNNC's nuclear power division.

China National Nuclear Power, a subsidiary of CNNC, has 14 nuclear reactors in operation, with 11 under construction in China.

lvchang@chinadaily.com.cn

The construction site of a Hualong One project by China National Nuclear Corp in Fuqing, Fujian province. Xinhua

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/03/2016 page29)