On Tuesday, Pakistan's prime minister officially broke ground on a new nuclear plant near the country's commercial capital of Karachi.
Pakistani state media reported that China will supply two, 1,100 megawatt ACP1000 reactors that will be known as Coastal Power Project K-2 and K-3. The country currently operates three reactors with a combined capacity of 725 megawatts, and Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said his government envisions 40,000 megawatts of nuclear generation by 2050.
China also supplied two, 300 megawatt pressurized water reactors at Chashma that came online in 2000 and 2011, according to the World Nuclear Association. Another two, 340 megawatt reactors are under construction at that site. Pakistan is not a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and has limited access to foreign nuclear power technologies. But China has argued its projects in Pakistan were grandfathered in when China joined the NSG in 2004. The new coastal reactors are expected to cost $9.6 billion, with first concrete poured late next year.