History Of Nuclear Energy In India

Can Nuclear Energy Provide Answer To India's Energy Security

History Of Nuclear Energy In India

Indias Nuclear Energy ScenarioIndia has a flourishing and largely indigenous nuclear power program and expects to have 14,600 MWe nuclear capacity on line by 2020. It aims to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power by 2050.Because India is outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its weapons program, it was for 34 years largely excluded from trade in nuclear plant or materials, which has hampered its development of civil nuclear energy until 2009.Due to these trade bans and lack of indigenous uranium, India has uniquely been developing a nuclear fuel cycle to exploit its reserves of thorium.Now, foreign technology and fuel are expected to boost India's nuclear power plans considerably. All plants will have high indigenous engineering content.

India's operating nuclear power reactorsReactorStateTypeMWe net, eachCommercial operationTarapur 1&2MaharashtraBWR1501969Kaiga 1&2KarnatakaPHWR2021999-2000Kaiga 3&4KarnatakaPHWR2022007, (due 2012)Kakrapar 1&2GujaratPHWR2021993-95Madras 1&2 (MAPS)Tamil NaduPHWR2021984-86Narora 1&2Uttar PradeshPHWR2021991-92Rajasthan 1RajasthanPHWR901973Rajasthan 2RajasthanPHWR1871981Rajasthan 3&4RajasthanPHWR2021999-2000Rajasthan 5&6RajasthanPHWR202Feb & April 2010Tarapur 3&4MaharashtraPHWR4902006, 05Kudankulam 1Tamil NaduPWR917(11/2013)Total (21)5302 MWe

India's nuclear power reactors under constructionReactorTypeMWe gross, net,eachProject controlConstruction startCommercial operation dueKudankulam 2PWR (VVER)1000, 917NPCILJuly 20023/2014Kalpakkam PFBRFBR500, 470BhaviniOct 2004(9/2014 start-up) 2015Kakrapar 3PHWR700, 630NPCILNov 2010June 2015Kakrapar 4PHWR700, 630NPCILMarch 2011Dec 2015Rajasthan 7PHWR700, 630NPCILJuly 2011June 2016Rajasthan 8PHWR700, 630NPCILSept 2011Dec 2016Total (6)4300 MWe gross

Three Stage Nuclear Fuel CycleBecause of Indias lack of uranium recourses, every effort has been made to draw as much power as possible out of the uranium they do have. Using a combination of their Advanced Heavy Water Reactor and Fast Breeder Reactors, the Indian program is able to reprocess this fuel. After the uranium is run through the AHWR once, it is sent to a fast breeder reactor and used to produce energy once again. The plutonium which is extracted from the fast breeders is then used in the AHWR with thorium as the main fuel. At the end of the third reaction, the nuclear waste is much less in volume and in a far less hazardous form.

Safety Features of the IndianThorium Advanced HeavyWater Reactor DesignThe Indian thorium fuelled Advanced Heavy Water Reactor has been designed with safety as a top priority.It has several innovative and passive safety features that would effectively shut down the reactor in the event of any foreseeable accident.Along with the conventional active shutdown capabilities such as scramming or flooding the reactor with coolant, the reactor also has several passive shutdown systems that will automatically activate in the event of a hot shutdown, prolonged shutdown, or loss of coolant accident.During normal operation, coolant is circulated by natural convection instead of pumps, so a loss of power will not cause a loss of coolant.

Safety Features of the IndianThorium Advanced HeavyWater Reactor DesignIf a loss of coolant accident did happen, the rising temperature would cause the automatic release of a reactor poison into the system, that would kill the reaction. If this system were to fail, and the temperature continued to rise, the large gravity driven water pool at the top of the reactor building would automatically start flooding the bottom the reactor cavity, effectively submersing the whole reactor core. If the reaction rate continues to increase, there is enough coolant to keep the reaction in check for 72 hours, more than enough time for the operator to step in and manually shut down the reactor.

Safety Features of the IndianThorium Advanced HeavyWater Reactor Design

Why India Might Fail In Its AmbitionNuclear power is a complex and difficult technology and it is not easy to develop it very rapidly.In India, each reactor took longer to build, cost more than projected, and performed worse than had been envisaged when plans were made. There were problems that had not been envisioned when the site was selected, leading to delays in construction and reduced efficiency in operations.In the future, however, construction and operation might fare worse because India plans to import a new reactor type: light water reactors.Apart from the fact that these are incredibly expensive compared to domestic Indian designs and would make nuclear electricity uncompetitive, further problem is that Indian safety regulators have no experience with these.

Even the thorium-based breeders which the World Nuclear family is considering to be of high importance, doesnt feature in future plans of DAE until 2052.This is primarily because of difficulties in dealing with the highly radioactive contaminant uranium-232 that is produced along with uranium-233, the fissile material produced from fertile thorium.DAEs projections have simply not accounted properly for the future availability of plutonium, because it has not included in its calculations the lag period between the time a certain amount of plutonium is committed to a breeder reactor and when it reappears along with additional plutonium for refuelling the same reactor, thus contributing to the start-up fuel for a new breeder reactor.Why India Might Fail In Its Ambition

And the most important reason why nuclear power might fail in India is because it is expensive.India as a country not only requires electricity but wants it a cheap price.Future reactors, both imported light water reactors as well as fast breeder reactors, promise to be much more expensive, which will make electricity generated in these unaffordable to the weaker sections of society. Finally, there has been significant opposition to every new nuclear reactor that has been planned since the 1980s, most dramatically illustrated by the intense protests over the Kudankulam reactors. In addition to concerns about safety or radioactive waste, opposition to nuclear facilities also stems from their impact on lives and livelihoodsWhy India Might Fail In Its Ambition

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