Power station has two China-supplied Hualong One reactor units

An aerial view of the Kanupp nuclear site in Pakistan. Courtesy CNNC.

The Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) has issued an operating licence for the Kanupp-3 nuclear power plant, the newest of Pakistan’s six commercial power reactors.

The licence was granted after a comprehensive review and inspection process and the “successful resolution of all pertinent regulatory issues” related to the China-supplied Hualong One plant, also known as Karachi, a statement said.

In April 2022 Kanupp-3, in the Sindh region of southeastern Pakistan, became the world’s fourth Hualong One unit to achieve commercial status and the second outside China.

Since then the plant has been operating commercially while undergoing an extended test period. The operating licence means that test period has ended.

There are two units in commercial operation at the Fuqing nuclear power station in China and one in Pakistan – the identical Kanupp-2.

Kanupp-2 and -3 are China’s only overseas Hualong One projects.

Kanupp-2 became the first overseas Hualong One unit to begin commercial operation in May 2021. Construction took just under six years.

Construction of Kanupp-3 began in May 2016. Fuel was loaded into the reactor core in January 2022. The unit was connection to the grid in March 2022 and achieved full power in early April 2022.

The 1,014-MW Hualong One, or HPR1000, is a Chinese indigenous, three-loop pressurised water reactor. It incorporates elements of CNNC’s ACP1000 and China General Nuclear’s ACPR1000+ reactor designs.

Pakistan now has six nuclear units in commercial operation – four China-supplied CNP-300 units at Chasnupp, in the central Punjab region, and Kanupp-2 and -3.

The country’s reactor fleet provides about a 7% share of domestic electricity production, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.