Annual Report r" • 2002-2003 Me ' • • ' . : Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission The submission of an Annual Report of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission is a statutory requirement under the provisions of section 15(b) of the PAEC Ordinance, 1965. It's publication is aimed to document the achievements and concerted endeavours put in by all establishments and entities of PAEC towards the fulfilment of its programme. The Commission records, with great appreciation and pride, the services rendered by all the scientists, engineers, technicians, administrative & financial managers, and their staff, whose untiring efforts and engagements have contributed to research oriented developmental programme undertaken by the Commission during the year 2002-2003. (Dr. Khwaja Yaldram) Secretary Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Islamabad Contents Highlights 1 nuclear Power 5 Physical Sciences and Engineering 11 Bio-Sciences 20 nuclear Minerals 34 Human Resource Development 38 Projects - 40 International Relations 42 Finance 44 Publications 46 HIGHLIGHTS NUCLEAR POWER 1000 outside personnel participated is gradually attaining the status of in Refueling Outage-1 (RFO-1). centre for diagnostic vibration analysis From July, 2002 to June, 2003 Kara- of moving components of machinery. chi Nuclear Power Plant, KANUPP The Applied Systems Analysis Group generated a total of 236 GWh which ASAG contributed in the preparation NUCLEAR SCIENCE raised the cumulative generation of PC-I document for the second unit of & since Net Power Date (NPD) to Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (C-2). 10,736.46 GWh. The total on-line TECHNOLOGY time of turbo generator during the In order to obtain approval from the reporting period was 3,167.53 hours Government of Pakistan (GOP), Reactor Operations members of the Group interacted which raised the cumulative running & Experiments time upto 30th June, 2003 to with the relevant Departments of 152,430.76 hours. The gross capac- GOP and also assisted the senior management of PAEC in the high- Pakistan Research Reactor (PARR- ity and availability factors during the 1) was operated for 420 hours pro- period were 19% & 36% respec- level meetings related to C-2. The Group also contributed in the nego- ducing 3105 MWh of thermal energy. tively. Life time average figures for Five hundred and sixty nine capsules these are 29% and 56% respectively. tiations for C-2 related to cost and financial aspects. containing different samples were irradiated. Chashma Nuclear Power Plant, Analytical engineering studies re- CHASNUPP generated a total of lated to the Pressurized Water Reac- Pakistan Research Reactor (PARR- 1503 GWh of electrical output with tors (PW/Rs) remained the mainstay 2) was operated for 133 hours pro- 1386 GWh of it exported to WAPDA. of Institute of Nuclear Power, INUP's ducing 3868 KWh of thermal energy. The total on line time of the Turbine- activities. The work assignments re- Number of samples irradiated was Generator was 5243 hours thus rais- lated mainly to the areas of reactor 1234. Quality of reactor vessel/pool ing the on line time of Turbine- physics, core design, thermal hy- water was maintained up to the stan- Generator to 17384 hours since first draulic design, besides accident and dard. Low and full power tests were grid connection. The average plant transient analysis, in-core fuel man- carried out to meet the requirements capacity and availability factors were agement and fuel mechanical design. of operating policies. Fire emergency 52.82% and 59.85% respectively. and site emergency drills were also Numerous maintenance jobs were Laboratories for radiation shielding conducted. A series of experiments carried out by Maintenance person- studies, and nuclear instrumentation were performed for measurement of nel of CHASNUPP along with nearly have been established. The Institute gamma doses in the gamma cell of PARR-1 with different combinations of retired LEU fuel elements. Plasma Physics Electromagnetic drift waves in elec- tron-positron-ion plasmas have been studied. It is found that these waves can form the dipolar vortex structures in the nonlinear regime. Coupling of ion acoustic and Alfven waves with the drift wave have also been investigated. Fast Neutron Physics The determination of boron in an iron base amorphous alloy as well as in steel samples has been car- ried out by prompt gamma neutron activation analysis setup at PARR-I. The re-estimation of absolute inten- Chairman, PAEC being briefed by GM (C) in MCR of CNPP sities by thermal neutrons capture in 1 55 Mn with k0 standardization ap- proach was done in the energy range from 50 keV2 to 3 MeV. High Temperature Superconductivity To investigate the effects of dopants in the CMR materials the synthesis of La0.49A0. 0iCa05MnO3 (where A— Nd, Sm, Gd, Yb & Y) and charac- terization by the R-T and XRD measurements have been com- pleted. Study of the effect of dopants on the spin glass behaviour for the CMR materials, La085Ca015MnO3 and Lao.85Cao i5Mno.95Feoo503, has been completed. Lasers Studies An early maturing high yielding cotton variety by NIA &Applications patched to nuclear medical centres. production chain includes all calcu- An extended cavity diode laser sys- 16 consignments of sodium phos- lation steps of events' generation, tem has been designed and devel- phate (P-32) (141 mCi) and 07 con- simulation, digitization and recon- oped. A 75 mW, 785 nm diode laser signments of MIBG-131 (52 mCi) struction. CERN computing environ- system having a narrow line width ~ were also supplied to medical cen- ment was replicated to establish 100 MHz has been developed, tres. Total supply of radioactive CMS events production site. which is tunable over a range of +/- products was 95972.35 mCi worth 10 nm with laser power in excess of 5.49 million rupees. 8366 vials of AGRICULTURE 50 mW. This newly developed laser eleven different cold kits MIBI, & can be used for ultra high resolution MDP, DTPA, MAG3, DISIDA, spectroscopy of Rb atoms. Twelve DMSA, Phytate, HMPAO pyrophos- BIOLOGY units of Laser land leveler were phate and glucoheptonate worth handed over to different organiza- 5.32 million rupees were also sup- Under crop improvement pro- tions. Thirty units of laser land level- plied during this period. gramme, research was carried out ers are ready for delivery. for evolving new varieties of crops Applied Health Physics suited to local environmental condi- Radio & Nuclear Chemistry tions. Personnel radiation contamination Sorption behavior of Ag and Cr onto monitoring services were provided A new cotton variety SOHNI en- Polyurethane foam (PUF) loaded with to radiation workers, trainees and dowed with high yield, early maturity diphenylcarbazide; Eu, Tm, and Hg visitors of PARR-1, PARR-2 NCD, and high lint ratio has been finally on PUF loaded with pyridylazoresorci- IPD and others radioactive radio- approved by Provincial Seed Coun- nol (PAR); and the Cr onto unloaded chemical laboratories of PIN- cil in its meeting held on 22nd Oct, PUF and loaded with trioctyl STECH. Radiation/contamination 2002 for general cultivation in phosphine oxide (TOPO) has been surveys were conducted in different Sindh. studied from different mineral acids. labs./plants of PINSTECH. Safe Parameters affecting the sorption transportation of 1381 consign- The Varietal Evaluation Committee were optimized. Experimental work ments of radioactive material/ (VEC) in its meeting held on April on adsorption of U and Cd on PUF radiation sources were authorized. 23, 2003 at PARC HQ Islamabad loaded with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2- unanimously approved high yield- naphthol (PAN) has been completed. Computers ing, good grain quality variety, Sar- shar for general cultivation in Sindh Radioisotope and Radio- Under PAK-CERN collaboration re- and Balochistan. search programme, compact muon pharmaceutical Cold Kits The wheat varieties Sarsabz and Production solenoid (C|\/IS) events production site has been established in Com- Kiran 95, evolved by NIA, have gener- ated an additional annual income of Regular production of M 31 was puter Division. CMS events produc- Rs. 1568 million to the fanners of Continued and 93960 mCi were dis- tion activity, based on Monte Carlo Sindh. Under Plant Molecular Breeding, A highly sensitive method was stan- Under plant Biotechnology work local rice varieties, Oryza galabe dardized for the detection of afla- was carried out on molecular virol- rrima and some lines carrying chro- toxin B1 residues in poultry feed ogy, Plant Genomics, Tissue Cul- matin from upland rice were tested and its components using Enzyme ture, Bio Control of Pathogenic dis- for tolerance to water stress. Linked Immuno Sorbant Assay eases, effect of Bio Power and Mo- (ELISA). lecular Ecological Studies, etc. Experiments were conducted to standardize procedures for seed 7700 vials (77,000 vaccine doses) About 2000 cotton BioPower bags protein fingerprinting of wheat varie- of the Haemorrhagic spticaemia were provided to the farmers in ties. (HS) vaccine were prepared and Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzafar garh, sold in the local market worth 0.70 Kabeer Wala, Multan, Melsi areas. The research in the Plant Physiol- million rupees whereas12000 vials 12,000 bags of Rice BioPower were ogy field was focused to enhance (1.2 million doses) of NIAB Newcas- provided to the farmers in Hafiz the crop productivity by undertaking tle disease (ND) vaccine were pre- abad, Pindi Bhatian, Shiekhu Pura, studies in stress tolerance physiol- pared and sold earning 0.54 million etc and related field areas. ogy and exploring ways to cultivate rupees. sub-optimal lands profitably. Isolation of mutants of various micro A research project worth 21.77 mil- organisms characterization of indus- To prevent loss in yield of crops by lion rupees was awarded by Minis- trial enzymes, production of Bio insects, entomological studies & ex- try of Science and Technology for chemicals and Bio Transformation periments were carried out on cot- mass production of HS, Black Quar- of industrially important compounds ton pests, sugar borers, fruit flies, ter and Infectious Bursal Disease were the major areas of research, rice borers, etc.