Karachi 2 and 3 are the first export of China’s Hualong One design; They are scheduled for commercial operation in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
PKONWEB — The outer safety dome of unit 2 at the Karachi nuclear power plant in Pakistan was successfully installed on the containment building.
Measuring 53 meters in diameter and over 23 meters in height, the steel dome weighs about 366 tons.
According to the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), this milestone, achieved on 17 June, marks the end of the general construction work on Karachi Unit 2, and will be followed up by containment and heat tests.
The unit is the first of two Chinese-supplied Hualong One reactors being built at the site at a cost of $10bn with financial assistance from China.
Karachi 2 and 3 are the first export of China’s Hualong One design, with construction of unit 2 beginning in 2015 and unit 3 in 2016.
Installation of the reactor internals at unit 2 was completed in January this year. Unit 2 is scheduled for commercial operation in 2021 and unit 3 will be ready in 2022, when they will add a further 2322 MW to Pakistan’s existing nuclear generation capacity of 1355 MW from five operating units: a small pressurized heavy water reactor at Karachi, and four Chinese-designed pressurized water reactors at Chashma.
A third 1161 MW Hualong One unit is planned for construction at Chashma.
Karachi nuclear power plant is located on the Arabian Sea coast, approximately 18km east of Karachi and has been in service with a single 137MW reactor unit (Kanupp-1) since 1972.
