The Governor said Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), having an excellent track record of nuclear power plants operations, could shoulder that responsibility with assurance and confidence. Speaking about the manpower-development programme of PAEC, he said human resources was a chief asset to success for a country and that was why advanced nations paid special attention to education, and allocated handsome chunks of their budgets for that sector.
The Governor said the present government had substantially increased its budget for education especially for higher education.
He pointed out the history bears out the Muslims were the most advanced in learning and scientific research until the 15th century.
Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Khan said it was good to know the PAEC was serving the country and its people in many ways. However, energy generation remained one of its most important commitments, he said adding that Pakistan, with its limited fossils reserves, needed to install more nuclear power plants and must follow its goal oriented nuclear power programme.
The Governor further pointed out the nuclear energy was comparatively cheaper, cleaner and more environment friendly as compared to other conventional sources of energy.
In his welcome address, the PAEC Chairman Parvez Butt said during the 50 years of its existence, the PAEC besides power production had established itself in various disciplines of engineering, science, medicine, agriculture and defence.
He pointed out that 13 cancer hospitals had been set up throughout the country from which more than 350,000 patients benefit annually. Five more similar hospitals were under construction including one in Nawabshah.
Butt said that through application of nuclear techniques, the PAEC had evolved more than 47 crop varieties which were of high yield, pest-resistant and soil suitable. Those varieties were fetching additional income worth billions of rupee to our farmers.
He informed the PAEC Research and Development aimed at the solution of industrial problems and was supporting the growth of local industry through provision of services in welding, testing techniques, design consultancy and its vast and state of the art manufacturing workshops.
PAEC' s contribution towards strengthening the country's defence was also well known, he added.
Talking about safety and operational performance, Parvez Butt told that Chashma nuclear power plant - CHSNUPP 1 - had recently attained the capacity factor of 94 percent which ranked among the highest in the world and in the same vein, he added, the KANUPP had been operated successfully for the last 30 years and through the application of indigenous expertise, its design life had been extended through refurbishment.
He informed the work had been started on the construction of another 300-megawatt nuclear plant called C-2 in the vicinity of the existing CHSNUPP 1. The PAEC chief affirmed if tasked they were ready to start activities to construct the next nuclear power plant, which would be according to their plans K-2 in the vicinity of the existing KANUPP.
Realising the importance of trained human resource, PAEC had set up task-oriented educational and training centres in different cities of the country, which had strong links with other universities of the country. These educational institutions include Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Computer Training Centre (CTC), KANUPP Institute of Nuclear Power Engineering (KINPOE), Pakistan Welding Institute and National Centre for Non-Destructive Testing.
Talking about the indigenous successes of the PAEC programme, Parvez Butt stated they had been using their own indigenous fuel at KANUPP since 1980 and that amount of fuel was equivalent to importing approximately two million tons of oil.
Earlier, the NED University of Engineering and Technology Karachi Vice-Chancellor Engr Abul Kalam conferred degrees on 81 graduates in Masters of Nuclear Power Engineering.
The Governor awarded gold medals and merit certificates to nine students of the three batches from 2002, 2003 and 2004.
In his report, KINPOE Director Dr Khalid Bukhari traced the history of the evolution of the institute and informed that all inductions in the M Sc and other short courses were made on the basis of test and merit. He pointed out so far 254 students had graduated under that programme including those receiving their degrees at the Convocation 2005.
Later, the governor witnessed a scientific exhibition featuring working and successes of various segments of the PAEC programme.