KARACHI, Oct 21: While the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission on Friday claimed that most of the heavy water leaked from the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant was recovered for reuse insisting that the plant and its surroundings were entirely safe, environmentalists and civil society organisations said the fact that not all of the heavy water was recovered warranted immediate closure of the obsolete plant which is very near the metropolis.Dr Ejaz Ahmed of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that Kanupp was located in the ecologically sensitive area and the nearby beach was one of the major nesting grounds of marine turtles, green turtles and olive ridley turtles the highly endangered and rare species which are facing an extinction threat.

Many marine mammal species, including dolphins, were sighted in the vicinity, he said.

He said that in case of a leakage or radiation escape, besides harming the environment in the vicinity, the marine ecosystem would also be infected and the various marinefood species would be contaminated which in turn would affect the food chain and human beings would be at risk. He said that the coral colonies near the Churna Island, opposite the mouth of the Hub River, would also be at risk in case of a disaster.

`It`s a very old plant using outdated technology that outlived its designed life span many years back,` said National Commission on the Status of Women chairperson Anis Haroon.

She said that the nuclear power plant mostly remained shut.

Whenever it functioned it did not operate at full capacity and generated less electricity. She said that keeping in view the work standards here it could not be upgraded. Shesaid it was expensive to maintain and it had lost its efficiency while leakages and faults had been reported time and again. `These are only the few incidents which have come out despite the thick veil of secrecy that surrounds the issues so it should be shut down,` she said, highlighting the need to explore possibilities of acquiring new technologies that have no permanent hazardous effect on the environment.

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum chief Mohammad Ali Shah said that it was not known how safely Kanupp was being operated as time and again faults or heavy water leakage incidents were reported. He said that at least three fault lines were passing through the vicinityand it had become necessary that the plant be shut down or shifted from the populated area following the tsunami-related nuclear disaster in Japan.

After the Japan disaster, the PFF and various civil society organisations had written a letter to the government seeking closure of Kanupp but there was no response, he recalled.

He said that though coastal communities were living very close to the plant, the country`s largest city was also expanding in this direction.

Roland D`Souza, a former chief of Shehri, an NGO working on urban issues, said that the maintenance standards by and large were not very good in the country and as the plant had already outlived itsdesigned life so it developed faults regularly like the reported incidents of heavy water leakage. The plant remained shut most part of the year, proving that something was wrong, he added.

He said that he would prefer that this plant be decommissioned as it was very close to Karachi with over 15 million people, and any future plant should not be located near the populated areas and potentially less hazardous options of energy generation be explored.

Safety The statement issued by the atomic energy commission stated that the safety of Kanupp was monitored by an independent committee within the plant, a directorate of nuclear safety at the corporate level in the PAEC, and an independent Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA).

Experts from IAEA and the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) were also invited, it said.

It added that continuous monitoring of radiation in and around the plant was performed routinely, on land and in the ocean, as well as in all edibles in the surrounding area. Results were also monitored by PNRA.

`Kanupp Off-site Radiation Emergency Plan (KOFREP) isalready in place and copies are available with all relevant authorities in Karachi, including the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Sindh.

The plant was also implementing an ageing management programme, which included necessary inspections and rehabilitation of all equipment which could be affected by age, the PAEC said.

`This incident of heavy water leakage was minor in nature. It was reported to IAEA through PNRA, and is assessed at level 1 on a scale of 1 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) established by IAEA. It was classified as an incident, not an accident.The PAEC maintained that as a result of leakage incident, no injury to the personnel, radiation or otherwise, was caused, or was likely.

`The plant and its neighbourhoods are entirely safe and there has been no release of radioactivity anywhere.

Most of the heavy water leaked has also been recovered for reuse.

It added that a formal investigation into the causes of the event was already under way `Early notification as routinely required by PNRA, has already been issued. The plant will restart in due course after necessary in service inspections have been made, which are already under way.