![]() |
NUCLEAR SAFETYPNRA regulates all civilian nuclear installations, nuclear safety class equipment manufacturers and nuclear service providers in the country under the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2001. Nuclear installations in Pakistan include Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), Research reactors and Molybdenum production facility. Currently, there are eight operational nuclear installations in Pakistan which include five nuclear power plants, two research reactors and one molybdenum production facility. Two nuclear power plants are under construction at Karachi. Furthermore, two manufacturers of nuclear sfety related structures & nuclear safety class equipment are also licensed by PNRA. A summary of these is presented in the tables below: Table-1: Nuclear Installations
Table-2: Designers, Manufacturers and Service Providers
The PNRA regulatory processes ensure that the nuclear installations strictly comply with PNRA regulations and the conditions attached to the license throughout their life-time i.e. from siting to decommissioning and until the site is removed from regulatory control. The authorizations and licenses issued during various stages of nuclear installations include site registration, construction license, permission for commissioning, permission to introduce nuclear material into the installation, operating license, decommissioning license and removal of the site from regulatory control. In addition, the licensees are required to get permission from PNRA to make the reactor critical after every refueling outage. All authorizations and licenses are issued by PNRA after comprehensive review & assessment of licensing submissions and verification that all regulatory requirements are fulfilled. PNRA also awards licenses to the operating personnel responsible to operate the nuclear power plants and research reactors. Under the obligations of PNRA regulations, no nuclear installation in the country can be operated unless it is staffed with the adequate number of licensed operating personnel. In order to ensure that the licensees maintain an acceptable level of safety, PNRA conducts regulatory inspections (planned as well as reactive) of nuclear installations to verify compliance of PNRA regulations and other regulatory requirements. The inspections are performed by PNRA authorized inspectors as per approved inspection plan. The results of the inspections are documented in the form of inspection reports and form the basis for any subsequent enforcement actions. |