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| Nuclear energy not on platter for Pakistan: US |
| Lalit K Jha/PTI / Washington Nov 06, 2009, 13:12 IST |
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The US, which signed a nuclear agreement with India last year, is not considering the option of providing atomic energy to Pakistan as part of its efforts to resolve the energy-crisis in the country.
A high-profile US team which went to Islamabad recently to discuss energy issues with Pakistan's officals did not discuss the option of civilian nuclear energy, David Goldwyn, coordinator for international energy affairs at the State Department told foreign journalists here.
"We spent two days in very intensive talks with the government of Pakistan on whole range of energy issues, but they did not raise nuclear energy, so we did not discuss it," Goldwyn said.
The reasons, experts say, are obvious, given Pakistan's proliferation record and the fact that the country's nuclear scientist A Q Khan led a network which spread nuclear technology to rogue nations like N Korea.
Ever since India and the US inked the civilian nuclear agreement last year, Pakistan has been demanding a pact on similar lines.
However, the US has ruled out any such possibility, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserting in her major speech on nuclear non-proliferation last month that there can be no template of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.
"Nuclear energy isn't always the most cost-effective. Its certainly the lowest carbon alternative, but it can be pretty expensive," Goldwyn said when a South Asian journalist asked about the possibility of nuclear energy, being the cheapest option, could be used in Pakistan too.
Goldwyn said the biggest challenge in the Pakistan electricity sector is getting prices right.
"Everything flows from whether or not you charge a cost-recoverable tariff for electricity," said Goldwyn, who had led a team of US officials on October 23 and 24 to Islamabad for a US-Pakistan energy policy dialogue.
"Pakistan was a country that in 1994 had the ability to export electricity, and they were looking at export routes, because they had a surplus of generation," he said.
The plans are for 2,500 megawatts by December and nearly 4,600 megawatts of additional generation capacity by next June.
"And if Pakistan implements the plan, which they have devised, then they should be able to avoid the rolling blackouts of last summer," he said.
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