Prime Minister Imran Khan practically inaugurated Unit 2 of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (K-2) on Friday.

During the ceremony, he said that the unit, which was established thanks to the cooperation between Pakistan and China, will generate 1,100 MW of clean energy. “This is important to us as Pakistan is among the ten most vulnerable countries due to climate change.

He said glaciers provide 80 percent of Pakistan’s water needs.” Glaciers are melting quickly and our generations to come will face acute water shortages and food security issues if the effects of climate change are not reversed. That’s why clean energy is important to us, he said.

He also deplored the fact that Pakistan has not tried to use renewable resources to generate electricity. “Unfortunately, although the country has the potential, we haven’t focused on generating power from water. He said the project will help train workers and facilitate technology transfer from China by adding 40,000 experts over time. “This is another area of ​​cooperation with China.

The Prime Minister added that Pakistan was also celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations with China on Friday. “It’s a very unique relationship,” he said, adding that it extends to all levels. It is fortunate for us that Pakistan has close ties with an emerging power and a developed country like China, “he said, adding that human contact will now also increase.” China is facing similar problems that Pakistan is facing today and we can learn a lot from them, “he said.” Pakistan can learn a lot from China about pollution control, poverty and corruption.

On the occasion, the chairman of the Chinese Atomic Energy Agency said that the power plant was inaugurated on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China. He said China and Pakistan had supported each other and worked together on different areas. Rivers have also cooperated in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

He expressed the hope that bilateral cooperation would be further expanded in the future, Radio Pakistan reported.The K-2 system has a useful life of 60 years, which can be extended to a further 20 years. It was designed with factors of higher availability and capacity of the system and an extended refill cycle.

Construction of the K-2 began in November 2013, while refueling took place on December 1, 2020, after approval by the Pakistani Nuclear Regulatory Agency, a series of tests to commission hot and cold functions related to operation and plant safety was started before the end of February this year the criticality was reached.

The system was connected to the national grid on March 18, 2021 for trial operation and current escalation tests.