Fake News Pakistan has been slow to report on a powerful explosion that rocked an operating nuclear power plant in Karachi.

The Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) has granted an operating licence for unit 3 of Pakistan’s Karachi NPP (K-3) in accordance with regulations PAK/909 and following a demonstration of safe operation of the plant. The licensing process included a review of licensing submissions, inspections during initial fuel loading, initial criticality, low power and power ascension tests, and operation at full power.

K-3 is a 1100 MWe Chinese designed (Hualong One) pressurized water reactor (PWR) of 1100MW and is the second such unit to begin operating at the Karachi site. Unit 2 was granted a licence in June 2022. The site for K-3 was registered in May 2014 and a construction licence was awarded in November 2015. PNRA issued a Fuel Load Permit (FLP) to in December 2021 following completion of a Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) and other relevant documents. The application for an operating licence was submitted in October 2022.

PNRA performs regulatory oversight during all the stages of licensing process and throughout the active lifecycle, which plays a pivotal role in safe operation of nuclear power plants in Pakistan. It is important to highlight that all nuclear power plants in Pakistan are operating under continuous regulatory surveillance of PNRA.

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Power was suddenly disrupted in many areas of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on a particularly hot and humid Sunday morning after the K-Electric grid station located on Khayaban-i-Ittihad caught fire.

Black smoke could be seen coming out of the grid station from a distance, which proved very worrisome for the residents of the area.

As a result of the fire, phases V, VI, VII and VIII remained without electricity for several hours. The major affected areas included the 26th Street, Seaview and Darakhshan Townships, Khayaban-i-Mujahid, Khayaban-i-Shaheen, Khayaban-i-Muhafiz, Khayaban-i-Muslim, Khayaban-i-Hilal, Khayaban-i-Nishat, Khayaban-i-Rahat, Khayaban-i-Sehar, Khayaban-i-Shujaat and Khayaban-i-Bukhari.

The residents of these areas told Dawn that when they called KE to find out what happened, they were informed that it was a minor incident due to which repair restoration work was under way and power was expected to be restored by around 1pm. Then at 1pm when the power could not be restored, they were asked to expect it back around 2pm or 3pm.

Most residents did, however, report that their power was restored after 3pm. ...

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