Baseless propaganda

A long time ago, when I was still leading our enrichment and weapons programme at Kahuta, I frequently met Ghulam Ishaq Khan, one of the greatest and most competent Pakistanis the country has ever produced. Because of the nature of the programme and its importance for the survival of the country, he took a keen interest in our work.

I had the privilege of meeting with him directly without any bureaucratic hurdles and we had mutual respect for each other. During one of those meetings he expressed his frustration at the government having formed yet another committee to decide a matter by saying that a committee should be set up to find what utility and results the committees formed so far had achieved. I agreed with him that the sole purpose (and result) of such committees was to delay or scuttle a programme.

Bhutto did not consult any committee for our nuclear programme. He simply constituted a Board of Coordination consisting of A G N Kazi, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Munir Ahmed Khan and myself, with Imtiaz A Bhatty as its secretary. The board had all the powers we needed and we never faced any problems. Had the ball been thrown into the public domain, there would have been criticism from half-baked scientists and analysts who would have made it controversial, and rather than being a nuclear power today, we would have been at the mercy of Modi.

We have seen too many important programmes landing in the dustbin in the past due to overly long discussions, negotiations, public debates, etc. More than the media and half-baked experts, the respective governments have been responsible for these fiascos. They allow important projects to become a public debate with non-specialists and create controversy in the mind of the public.

Kahuta was never allowed to become a public debate otherwise objections would definitely have been raised that was dangerous for the residents of Islamabad/Rawalpindi. In its 35 years of existence, not a single accident has taken place, not a single person affected by radio-activity or died because of it. We have processed thousands of tons of UF6 radioactive gas. Thanks to the wise and supportive policies of the governments involved, we were able to turn Pakistan into a formidable nuclear and missile power.

The above is by way of introduction to the wise and timely decision of the concerned agencies and the government to approve the two nuclear reactors, K-2 and K-3, with a combined capacity of 2200 MW power. We already have Kanupp, a reactor of 137 MW supplied by the Canadians and in operation since 1972. No accident of any kind has ever happened there. Pakistanis are running it efficiently and smoothly, even when the Canadians withdrew after the Indian nuclear test of 1974.

In this modern age of high technology, each important project is checked and vetted by many agencies for public safety. The two nuclear plants under construction at Paradise Point, Karachi, have gone through the same strict checking and verification. Both France and China have a lot of experience in manufacturing and running nuclear plants and no one should doubt their competence.

France produces 76 percent of its power through nuclear reactors. The US, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Russia and the Czech Republic etc all produce a high percentage of their power by nuclear reactors. It is helping their industries and providing comfort to their public. Nobody in those countries makes a fuss about them. 

There have been very few nuclear accidents, either due to natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, etc) or human error. Can anybody stop these unavoidable events? In 1949, Capt Edward A Murphy of the US Air Force said what has now become an axiom: “If anything can go wrong, it will (someday) go wrong”. And we see this happening every day. Aircraft, cars, trains, ships, industrial plants, they all have accidents. But nobody demands that airports close down, vehicles be taken off the road, trains stopped, factories shut down, etc. The casualties that have occurred all over the world so far due to nuclear accidents are not even one billionth of those caused by road accidents, wars, air crashes, industrial accidents, etc.

K-2 and K-3 have been thoroughly discussed and scrutinised by the experts of PAEC (who have already been running two more nuclear power plants producing 600 MW for many years) and vetted by the SPD under the guidance of Gen Khalid A Kidwai. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also approved the design and the deals. France and China would never take any risks as it is a matter of their prestige worldwide. Moreover, the radiation released by these plants is only about one fifth of that released during a CT scan and that is accepted without questioning.

You are probably aware of my educational background and the extensive experience I have in this field. Not only had I studied the design and structure of nuclear reactors, but I had also studied radiation and its effects on humans and materials. Moreover, I have had 30 years of practical experience in this field (as have many scientists and engineers from the PAEC). On the basis of my background, I can unambiguously say that there is no danger — neither to the population of Karachi nor to the marine environment. The very small amount of hot water going into the huge ocean cannot make a difference in the temperature of the sea, nor will it have any effect on fish life and growth.

It has become fashionable to criticise merely for the sake of criticism. Many of these so-called ‘experts’ have no background of nuclear technology. One wonders if they have ever been allowed into a nuclear plant. Do they even consider the miseries the poor people suffer from loadshedding, which has caused the shutting down of many industries and loss of jobs? Not only have they lost their jobs, but the country is losing billions of dollars due to loss of exports. The poor people suffer while the rich enjoy electricity/generators, air conditioned offices and travel. Many of these ‘experts’ have not achieved much in their own fields, and publicity via the media comes cheap.

Let us remember the favour President Ayub Khan did to the nation by having the Tarbela and Mangla dams constructed. Without these dams we would literally be starving. Water is now available throughout the year. It is time the Kalabagh Dam was used for political scoring. It will not only delivery energy and abundant water, but will also save millions in losses to the people from flooding.