Nuclear Desalination Plant for Karachi Suggested

The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) has suggested the use of nuclear seawater desalination technology to overcome the growing shortage of water for industrial, agricultural and domestic use in the country.

Seawater desalination is considered to be a viable option especially for Karachi and the coastal belt as it was being successfully used in Japan and Kazakhstan for many years.

The plant would initially cost Rs590 million which would be mainly borne by the Sindh government for getting the desalination plant designed and manufactured at Karachi by hiring the services of foreign consultants.

The main objective of the project is to acquire the emerging technology of using nuclear energy for desalination of seawater/ brackish water and to attain an adequate know-how and experience in the design, manufacturing, operation and maintenance of a desalination plant which can be used in the installation of big thermal desalination plants in the future.

The PAEC is of the view that smaller units will also be needed as the development of coastal belt has started with the coastal highway. So by acquiring the Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) technology for desalination, expertise in this technology will be developed which can be used in future to locally provide a highly dependable source of portable water to Karachi in particular and other parts along the coastal belt in general…