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Pakistan's Chasma Nuclear Power Plant. A preliminary study of some safety issues and estimates of consequences of a severe accident

Auteur	Zia Mian, A.H.Nayyar
	-
Datum	december 1999
Classificatie	4.02.9.90/01 (PAKISTAN - INSTALLATIES)
Voorkant

Pakistan's Chashma Nuclear Power Plant

A preliminary study of some safety issues and estimates of the consequences 
of a severe accident

Zia Mian (1) and A.H. Nayyar (2)

Abstract

The Chashma nuclear power plant in Pakistan is expected to begin producing 
power in March, 2000. Public information about the reactor is limited, but an 
analysis of available data suggests there may be grounds for concern about the 
safety of the reactor. Some of these concerns are outlined here and the effects 
of a severe reactor accident estimated.

The first concern about Chashma is the location of the reactor. The reactor is sited 
in an area that studies have shown to be seismically active and possibly able to 
generate a magnitude 7.0 - 7.5 earthquake. The reactor's site on the banks of the 
Indus River may increase the risk of an accident in response to an earthquake 
because the water-rich sandy soil there may be susceptible to liquefaction; a 
process in which the ground behaves as if it were liquid.

The second concern is the safety of the reactor design. Originally designed by the 
China National Nuclear Corporation as a replica of China's first indigenous reactor, 
Qinshan-1, the history of Chashma suggests that the design has been subject to 
repeated changes. Not all the suggestions made for improving the safety of the 
reactor appear to have been incorporated. The limited Chinese experience in reactor 
design and the changes that have been made may combine to make the behavior of 
the system as a whole less predictable and less reliable, and so less safe.

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