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Islamabad, Mar 22(ANI): Pakistan must downsize its nuclear fission power production, as the country cannot handle a crisis like that caused by the stricken Fukushima power plant in Japan, whose radioactivity emission threatened a major disaster, nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy has said.

“Japan’s nuclear disaster should open our eyes. Japan is an advanced industrialised country with superior engineering knowledge and practices. It has a safety culture, Pakistan does not,” Hoodbhoy, who holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in The Express Tribune.

He pointed out that while remaining a perpetual danger, nuclear technology has not met any reasonable fraction of Pakistan’s energy needs unlike the 55 nuclear reactors in Japan that produce 30 per cent of its electricity.

The nuclear physicist said that the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) puts “Karachi’s population at risk. Sabotage, terrorist attack, equipment failure, earthquake, or a tsunami could result in large scale radioactive release.”

“With the breeze mostly directed towards Karachi, the population would surely have to be evacuated. The rich and the fortunate would succeed; the rest would not. Unlike the orderly and disciplined evacuation of post-tsunami Fukushima, all hell would break loose as millions would try to flee. Looters would strip everything bare, roads would be clogged, and vital services would collapse,” he added.

Hoodbhoy said that it would not be surprising if “our nuclear plant operators overlook critical safety procedures. Little is known about operating procedures because everything nuclear is kept under wraps, ostensibly for reasons of national security. This also covers up for bad practices.”

The shoulder-shrugging nonchalance of Pakistani authorities during the Japan disaster is particularly disturbing, he stated, noting that even as explosions tore through the nuclear complex, the “experts” flatly declared that a Fukushima could never happen in Pakistan.

“This outlandish claim cost them nothing, of course, because officials and other high-ups in Pakistan have never paid the price for false statements,” he said.

“A real nuclear disaster in Pakistan would see PAEC, PNRA, and our “great scientists” - who provide endless vanilla-flavoured reassurances - running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They would be clueless in dealing with a situation that threatens the lives of millions. The only thing they would know is how to run away fast,” he added.

The nuclear physicist stressed that it is time to downsize Pakistan’s nuclear fission power production.

“After nearly half a century of investing in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission - and the billions of dollars spent upon creating its infrastructure - only two per cent of Pakistan’s installed nuclear capacity is nuclear. The actual production is less than even this,” he said.

“Contrary to popular public perception, Pakistan’s power reactors also make no contribution to Pakistan’s bomb making capacity - the fissile material for these is produced elsewhere. Therefore there are multiple reasons why the search for more fission power must be shelved,” he added.

Hoodbhoy opined that until nuclear fusion power becomes available after some decades, Pakistan, like other countries, must rely on a mix of oil, gas, hydro, coal, solar, wind, and other renewables. (ANI)