Unfazed by global concerns, Beijing and Islamabad are in talks to set up a new giant one gigawatt atomic power plant in Pakistan, as China is set to expand its investment in nuclear power generation by nearly $120 billion over the next decades.
Qiu Jiangang, vice president of the state run China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which has already helped built Pakistan's main nuclear facility at Chashma in Punjab province, said his company was in talks to set up another giant nuclear plant in Pakistan, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"Both sides are in discussion over the CNNC exporting a one gigawatt nuclear plant to Pakistan", he told a meeting in Beijing without giving any details. Besides the main plant at Chashma, the Chinese company is completing a second reactor there and has contracts to build two more 300-MWreactors.
Mr Qiu said, that the first reactor was operating safely and the second one was being tested and expected to start formal operations by the end of the year. The US and India have both expressed concern after China signed a deal in February to build the additional two 300-MW reactors.