ISLAMABAD: Karachi Nuclear Power Plant unit-2 (K-2) is reportedly on partial forced outage due to intrusion of trash in plant through seawater and is now operating at 60 percent capacity, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

According to communication of National Power Control Centre (NPCC), the System Operator (SO) with National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), K-2 is under partial forced outage since August 17, 2022 and is supplying only 490 MW against dependable capacity of 1050 MW causing loss of 560-MW cheaper nuclear generation from system.

NPCC noted that the outage has affected the overall system-generation capability and as a result costly Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) and imported coal plants are being dispatched exhaustively to meet the system load demand, which has resulted in increase in overall energy mix cost along with additional load management to bridge the gap between supply and demand to the extent possible.

The System Operator has requested Member (Power) Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) to ensure full availability of plant due to prevailing high system load demand of summer season, at the earliest, after rectifying the fault so that cheaper nuclear generation could be fully utilized and additional load management due to capability shortfall could be avoided.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022