Clean Energy

Fossil fuel burning is a major contributor to increasing concentration of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere. The presence of these gases above pre-industrial level is warming the atmosphere and thus resulting in the climate change. Nuclear power generation is a recognized low carbon energy option and is an effective solution for handling the climate change issue. Since commencement of the technology in Pakistan, the country’s nuclear power plants have generated 121.4 billion units (i.e., kWh) carbon free electricity, avoiding nearly 74 million tonne CO2 equivalent GHG emissions. This quantity of GHG emission is identical to burning of 30-31 million tonne of coal in an open field. In future, the overall emissions by the country’s electric power system will grow due to increasing electricity demand. It is also likely that growing share of fossil fuel in the generation mix will increase the emission intensity of the system. The scenario, therefore, signifies the role of nuclear power in the development of a sustainable clean power generation system in Pakistan.