The Green’s Nukes are for Peaceful purposes

Courtesy:- Khalid Khokhar
Monday, April 09, 2012

Whilst Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) has lamented the incident of the discharge of radioactive waste into the environment from Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi and Fukushima-Daini power stations on the eve of first anniversary of the nuclear emergency, it has called for a complete halt to the drive for nuclear energy that is being rigorously pursued by South Asian and East Asian countries such as India, China North Korea and Pakistan. The Fukushima nuclear disaster has shown that nuclear reactors are fundamentally dangerous. None of the world’s 435 nuclear reactors are immune to human errors, natural disasters, or any of the many other serious incidents that could cause an accident. Millions of people who live near nuclear reactors are at risk.

Pakistan-based Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) is a conglomeration of the various peace groups and organizations in the country. Soon after the nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan in 1998, the civil society established a forum to keep a watch on the activities of Pakistan’s nukes. In an article “PPC calls for halt to pursuit of nuclear energy” appeared in “The News” on March 11, 2012, PPC has criticised the Pakistan government’s relentless pursuit of increasing its nuclear capacity. Pakistan currently operates two nuclear power plants, the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) and the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (CHASNUPP). According to the statement by PPC, Pakistan has produced over 100 nuclear weapons so far. The PPC has also raised concerns regarding the safety of the current nuclear installations as very little information regarding the safety measures employed by these institutions had been made public. The PPC claimed that a leakage took place of heavy water from a feeder pipe that was going to KANUPP’s main reactor. The PPC also aired concerns about the dumping of uranium waste near mines in Dera Ghazi Khan, resulting in high incidence of leukemia.

The apprehensions aired by PPC are certainly a motivated campaign against Pakistan’s nuclear programme. The detractors are working over time to malign Pakistan as well as our nuclear and strategic assets. Pakistan as a responsible nuclear nation must remain firm in its resolve to tide over these challenges. The US unilateral raid to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad city and attack on the country’s major naval air station in Karachi had raised concerns over potential threats from non-state actors to the security of Pakistan’s strategic assets and facilities. But, the inventor of Pakistan’s nuclear Nuclear program, Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan has claimed that Pakistan’s nuclear assets are safe and no body can access them as their security is foolproof. West is making baseless propaganda from the day one against Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. Small incidents of terrorism are a part of world, not only Pakistan but various other countries are also facing this problem, it does not means that the world should start accusing Pakistan of being incapable of protecting their nuclear asserts. After testing of the nuclear weapons, Pakistan has been safeguarding its atomic assets since past 35 years. Ever since, not even a single incident was observed which can be a proof of our ability to safeguard our atomic arsenal. The world recognizes that Pakistan had evolved excellent security arrangements for its nuclear assets under the auspices of the National Command Authority (NCA).

Following Japan’s nuclear crisis, the effects of which are still being felt, a number of countries decided to revamp their nuclear programmes. The Swiss government announced a halt to all of its nuclear plans because of safety concerns. Additionally, Germany called off its plans to extend the life of its ageing nuclear power stations. The Italian government stated that it was considering a similar move, while Israel too indicated that it would announce the suspension of its forthcoming nuclear projects. The initiatives to augment the security mechanism in the light of the Fukushima incident in Japan by adopting a new technology in the mechanism, was also discussed thoroughly amongst nuclear possessing countries. However, these assertions and assurances though appear to be promising but end up into a lip-service to the issue by the respective governments.

Despite the Japanese catastrophe, Indian government is currently pursuing the installation of another seven reactors, in addition to 20 nuclear reactors operating in six nuclear power plants, which generate 4,780 MW of power. United State’s duplicity can be ascertained from the fact that on the one side, it is asking Pakistan to sign NPT while awarding civilian nuclear technology to India. Unfortunately, like the US, Japan’s record on transparent handling of nuclear issues is not that clean. Non-proliferation has over time become increasingly discriminatory and a vehicle for the powerful to pressurize states they consider “unreliable”, and the fact that these targeted states happen to be primarily Muslim states. The accommodating manner in which the US has treated North Korea’s open defiance of the NPT in contrast to the treatment meted out to Iran, only bolsters the perception that Muslim states are being targeted by the US and its allies on multiple fronts. The Indo-US nuclear deal, and the repercussions of it within the IAEA and Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), has brought all these contradictions and dualities out into the open. Japan is moving out of its professed anti-militarist position as it enters into cooperation with the US on Missile Defense program, while maintaining one of the largest peaceful nuclear programs in the world. Japan possesses massive amounts of excess plutonium because it also has a large fast-breeder program, which allows stockpiles of fissile material to be built up. In December 1995, Japan was reported to have 4.7 tons of plutonium – enough for 700 nuclear warheads. Japan also has an indigenous nuclear enrichment plant which can also provide enriched uranium for nuclear weapons production. Japan has also developed the M-V three-stage solid fuel rocket, similar in design to the US LGM-118A Peacekeeper ICBM, which could serve as a ready delivery vehicle. Japan has also begun adopting a dual approach on the nuclear issue, opposing Pakistan’s nuclear program and accommodating Indian nuclear program. Tokyo plans to export its state-of-the-art nuclear technology to India. This is the state of affairs of those countries who want to implement NPT and CTBT on other emerging nations.

Unfortunately, the conventional sources of generation of power within the country, hydro and fossil fuels, are limited and will not meet the power demands of a growing economy on a longer-term basis. Pakistan has, therefore, to look to other sources of power generation and nuclear energy offers the most attractive alternative as a major source to fill the gap between demand and supply. Pakistan plans to expand the country’s nuclear power generation capacity from a nominal 3.8 percent (as compared to France 77.1%, Belgium 54%, Korea 34.6%, Switzerland 40.9%, UK 15.7% and US 19.3%) to 20-30 percent out of Pakistan’s total installed capacity of 19,252 MW. There is a general consensus that nuclear plants are a far cheaper option and deliver more electrical service per dollar in comparison to other sources of electricity generation. The use of oil or gas resource for power generation had cost the economy dearly therefore, exploiting nuclear option is vital for the country’s economic survival. In this context, the US and Japan should treat Pakistan and India on an equal footing in terms of nuclear assistance.