Nuclear power in India
Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydro and renewable sources of electricity.[1] As of 2008, India has 17 nuclear power plants in operation generating 4,120 MW while 6 other are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 3,160 MW.[2]
Since early 1990s, Russia has been a major source of nuclear fuel to India.[3] Due to dwindling domestic uranium reserves,[4] electricity generation from nuclear power in India declined by 12.83% from 2006 to 2008.[5] Following a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group in September 2008 which allowed it to commence international nuclear trade,[6] India has signed nuclear deals with several other countries including France,[7] United States,[8], and Kazakhstan[9] while the framework for similar deals with Canada and United Kingdom are also being prepared.[10][11] In February 2009, India also signed a US$700 million deal with Russia for the supply of 2000 tons nuclear fuel.[12][13]
India now envisages to increase the contribution of nuclear power to overall electricity generation capacity from 4.2% to 9% within 25 years.[14] In 2010, India's installed nuclear power generation capacity will increase to 6,000 MW.[15] As of 2009, India stands 9th in the world in terms of number of operational nuclear power reactors and is constructing 9 more, including two EPRs being constructed by France's Areva.[16] India's indigenous atomic reactors include TAPS-3, and -4, both of which are 540 MW reactors.[17]
Growth
India, being a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has been subjected to a defacto nuclear embargo from members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) cartel. This has prevented India from obtaining commercial nuclear fuel, nuclear power plant components and services from the international market, thereby forcing India to develop its own fuel, components and services for nuclear power generation. The NSG embargo has had both negative and positive consequences for India's Nuclear Industry. On the one hand, the NSG regime has constrained India from freely importing nuclear fuel at the volume and cost levels it would like to support the country's goals of expanding its nuclear power generation capacity to at least 20,000 MW by 2020. Also, by precluding India from taking advantage of the economies of scale and safety innovations of the global nuclear industry, the NSG regime has driven up the capital and operating costs and damaged the achievable safety potential of Indian nuclear power plants. On the other hand, the NSG embargo has forced the Indian government and bureaucracy to support and actively fund the development of Indian nuclear technologies and industrial capacities in all key areas required to create and maintain a domestic nuclear industry. This has resulted in the creation of a large pool of nuclear scientists, engineers and technicians that have developed new and unique innovations in the areas of Fast Breeder Reactors, Thermal Breeder Reactors, the Thorium fuel cycle, nuclear fuel reprocessing and Tritium extraction & production. Ironically, had the NSG sanctions not been in place, it would have been far more cost effective for India to import foreign nuclear power plants and nuclear fuels than to fund the development of Indian nuclear power generation technology, building of India's own nuclear reactors, and the development of domestic uranium mining, milling and refining capacity.
The Indian nuclear power industry is expected to undergo a significant expansion in the coming years thanks in part to the passing of The Indo-US nuclear deal. This agreement will allow India to carry out trade of nuclear fuel and technologies with other countries and significantly enhance its power generation capacity.[18] when the agreement goes through, India is expected to generate an additional 25,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020, bringing total estimated nuclear power generation to 45,000 MW.[19]
India has already been using imported enriched uranium and are currently under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, but it has developed various aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle to support its reactors. Development of select technologies has been strongly affected by limited imports. Use of heavy water reactors has been particularly attractive for the nation because it allows Uranium to be burnt with little to no enrichment capabilities. India has also done a great amount of work in the development of a Thorium centered fuel cycle. While Uranium deposits in the nation are limited (see next paragraph) there are much greater reserves of Thorium and it could provide hundreds of times the energy with the same mass of fuel. The fact that Thorium can theoretically be utilized in heavy water reactors has tied the development of the two. A prototype reactor that would burn Uranium-Plutonium fuel while irradiating a Thorium blanket is under construction at the Madras/Kalpakkam Atomic Power Station.
Uranium used for the weapons program has been separate from the power program, using Uranium from indigenous reserves. This domestic reserve of 80,000 to 112,000 tons of uranium (approx 1% of global uranium reserves) is large enough to supply all of India's commercial and military reactors as well as supply all the needs of India's nuclear weapons arsenal. Currently, India's nuclear power reactors consume, at most, 478 metric tonnes of uranium per year.[20] Even if India were quadruple its nuclear power output (and reactor base) to 20GWe by 2020, nuclear power generation would only consume 2000 metric tonnes of uranium per annum. Based on India's known commercially viable reserves of 80,000 to 112,000 tons of uranium, this represents a 40 to 50 years uranium supply for India's nuclear power reactors (note with reprocessing and breeder reactor technology, this supply could be stretched out many times over). Furthermore, the uranium requirements of India's Nuclear Arsenal are only a fifteenth (1/15) of that required for power generation (approx. 32 tonnes), meaning that India's domestic fissile material supply is more than enough to meet all needs for it strategic nuclear arsenal. Therefore, India has sufficient uranium resources to meet its strategic and power requirements for the foreseeable future.[20]
Nuclear power plants
Currently, seventeen nuclear power reactors produce 4,120.00 MW (2.9% of total installed base).
Power station | Operator | State | Type | Units | Total capacity (MW) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kaiga | NPCIL | Karnataka | PHWR | 220 x 3 | 660 |
Kakrapar | NPCIL | Gujarat | PHWR | 220 x 2 | 440 |
Kalpakkam | NPCIL | Tamil Nadu | PHWR | 220 x 2 | 440 |
Narora | NPCIL | Uttar Pradesh | PHWR | 220 x 2 | 440 |
Rawatbhata | NPCIL | Rajasthan | PHWR | 100 x 1, 200 x 1, 220 x 2 | 740 |
Tarapur | NPCIL | Maharastra | BWR (PHWR) | 160 x 2, 540 x 2 | 1400 |
Total | 17 | 4120 |
The projects under construction are:
Power station | Operator | State | Type | Units | Total capacity (MW) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kaiga | NPCIL | Karnataka | PHWR | 220 x 1 | 220 |
Rawatbhata | NPCIL | Rajasthan | PHWR | 220 x 2 | 440 |
Kudankulam | NPCIL | Tamil Nadu | VVER-1000 | 1000 x 2 | 2000 |
Kalpakkam | NPCIL | Tamil Nadu | PFBR | 500 x 1 | 500 |
Total | 6 | 3160 |
The planned projects are:
Power station | Operator | State | Type | Units | Total capacity (MW) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kakrapar | NPCIL | Gujarat | PHWR | 640 x 2 | 1280 |
Rawatbhata | NPCIL | Rajasthan | PHWR | 640 x 2 | 1280 |
Kudankulam | NPCIL | Tamil Nadu | VVER-1200 | 1200 x 2 | 2400 |
Jaitapur | NPCIL | Maharastra | EPR | 1600 x 4 | 6400 |
Kaiga | NPCIL | Karnataka | PWR | 1000 x 1, 1500 x 1 | 2500 |
Bhavini | PFBR | 470 x 4 | 1880 | ||
NPCIL | AHWR | 300 | 300 | ||
NTPC | PWR | 1000 x 2 | 2000 | ||
NPCIL | PHWR | 640 x 4 | 2560 | ||
Total | 10 | 20600 |
The following projects are firmly proposed.
Power station | Operator | State | Type | Units | Total capacity (MW) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kudankulam | NPCIL | Tamil Nadu | VVER-1200 | 1200 x 2 | 2400 |
Jaitapur | NPCIL | Maharastra | EPR | 1600 x 2 | 3200 |
Pati Sonapur | Orissa | PWR | 6000 | ||
Kumaharia | Haryana | PWR | 2800 | ||
Saurashtra | Gujarat | PWR | |||
Pulivendula | NPCIL 51%, AP Genco 49% | Andhra Pradesh | PWR | 2000 x 1 | 2000 |
Kovvada | Andhra Pradesh | PWR | |||
Haripur | West Bengal | PWR | |||
Total | 15 |
The following projects are proposed and to be confirmed soon.
Power station | Operator | State | Type | Units | Total capacity (MW) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kudankulam | NPCIL | Tamil Nadu | VVER-1200 | 1200 x 2 | 2400 |
Total | 2 | 2400 |
See also
References
- ^ http://cea.nic.in/power_sec_reports/Executive_Summary/2008_12/27-33.pdf
- ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSDEL16711520080818
- ^ http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=65381
- ^ http://www.livemint.com/2008/06/30222448/Uranium-shortage-holding-back.html
- ^ http://powermin.gov.in/JSP_SERVLETS/internal.jsp#
- ^ http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=321896
- ^ http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jan/25france.htm
- ^ http://www.livemint.com/2008/10/09005930/Bush-signs-IndiaUS-nuclear-de.html?d=1
- ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Kazakh_oil_deals_hang_in_balance/articleshow/4019306.cms
- ^ http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090080481&ch=1/18/2009%203:57:00%20PM
- ^ http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/3AA1B3B19AE0CD276525754500564CCB?OpenDocument
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7883223.stm
- ^ NTPC, Nuclear Power to Spend $3 Billion on India Atomic Plants
- ^ http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/slowdown-not-to-affect-indias-nuclear-plans/19/57/53400/on
- ^ Nuclear power generation to touch 6,000 Mw by next year
- ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL360076520090203
- ^ (http://www.npcil.nic.in/PlantsInOperation.asp
- ^ http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/E696AFE1CBD8BA4C652574A600103BE1?OpenDocument
- ^ http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/10012202/At-G8-Singh-Bush-reaffirm-c.html
- ^ a b http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/atomsforwarfinal4.pdf