Nuclear Energy in India
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Nuclear energy is the fifth largest source of electricity after coal,gas,hydro and wind power. Today India has installed 22 nuclear reactors at 7 locations across India with total installed capacity of 6780 MW power but performance is lower due to fuel shortages and protest movement launched after 2011 Fukushima Diachii nuclear accidentin Japan.
Nuclear energy has merits such as : average cost, non fossilised energy source, help of reduce carbon emissions a solution to global warming and climate change and nuclear energy is reliable,consistent, can be located near consumption centres irrespective of the sources of raw material. Major issues India has to overcome is :
1) institutional infrastructure :- which is created after 1948 and establishment of atomic energy commission ,and in 1954 atomic energy department (AED) which laid down the foundation of nuclear energy in India..we collaborated with west and established CANDU type reactors both for research and power generation..see the diagram below --
2) three stage nuclear programme in India:- keeping the nuclear fuel resource reserves in mind dr. Homi Bhabha jhangir drafted 3 stage programme. Since we have limited reserves of uranium and large reserves of Thorium. In the first stage uranium based reactors used to generate electric power.for this Nuclear power corporation of India limited (NPCIL) develop mostly PHWR type and two boiled water reactors. Even two reactors of VVER type develop —all together 22 reactors. In the second stage mixed fuel is used from stage one plutonium and uranium. Here reactors are called fast breeder reactors. Which will generate more fuel then it consumes. One prototype is developed at Kalpakkam called as PFBR of 500MW. To commercialised freezer reactors BHAVINI is constituted . In the last third stage , Thorium based reactors will be developed which will provide energy for 500 years since India has largest reserves of thorium. For this advanced heavy water reactors will be designed.
3) uranium mining in world and India:- India has limited reserves of uranium can be seen from fig below , in world largest production today comes from Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia
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Nuclear energy is the fifth largest source of electricity after coal,gas,hydro and wind power. Today India has installed 22 nuclear reactors at 7 locations across India with total installed capacity of 6780 MW power but performance is lower due to fuel shortages and protest movement launched after 2011 Fukushima Diachii nuclear accidentin Japan.
Nuclear energy has merits such as : average cost, non fossilised energy source, help of reduce carbon emissions a solution to global warming and climate change and nuclear energy is reliable,consistent, can be located near consumption centres irrespective of the sources of raw material. Major issues India has to overcome is :
1) institutional infrastructure :- which is created after 1948 and establishment of atomic energy commission ,and in 1954 atomic energy department (AED) which laid down the foundation of nuclear energy in India..we collaborated with west and established CANDU type reactors both for research and power generation..see the diagram below --
2) three stage nuclear programme in India:- keeping the nuclear fuel resource reserves in mind dr. Homi Bhabha jhangir drafted 3 stage programme. Since we have limited reserves of uranium and large reserves of Thorium. In the first stage uranium based reactors used to generate electric power.for this Nuclear power corporation of India limited (NPCIL) develop mostly PHWR type and two boiled water reactors. Even two reactors of VVER type develop —all together 22 reactors. In the second stage mixed fuel is used from stage one plutonium and uranium. Here reactors are called fast breeder reactors. Which will generate more fuel then it consumes. One prototype is developed at Kalpakkam called as PFBR of 500MW. To commercialised freezer reactors BHAVINI is constituted . In the last third stage , Thorium based reactors will be developed which will provide energy for 500 years since India has largest reserves of thorium. For this advanced heavy water reactors will be designed.
3) uranium mining in world and India:- India has limited reserves of uranium can be seen from fig below , in world largest production today comes from Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia
Largest uranium reserves in the world are :-
In India uranium production comes from :
4) nuclear power plants safety and security is managed by AERB guidelines .
- Genuine problems of Nuclear technology includes safety and waste management. Incidents like Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima are serious case of concern.
- Complete phase out of nuclear power generation for the fear of nuclear accident would be a wrong move. If nuclear energy is generated adhering to the highest standards of safety, there is less possibility of catastrophic accidents.
- In 2019 , world only increase 1% of nuclear power mainly due to China added 18%.
5) contamination of ground waters in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by uranium mining. reported above the 30ppb as recommended.
6) nuclear deals of India for fuel supplies and technology are :-
USA, Canada,Japan, Kazakhstan,Mongolia, niger
7) Land acquisition and selection of location for Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is also major problem in the country. NPP’s like kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh have met with several delays due to the land acquisition related challenges.
8) As India is not a signatory of NPT and NSG, nuclear supply is severely contained by sanctioned against India. This situation has changed after 2009 waiver and bilateral civil nuclear energy agreements with many countries.
9) Reprocessing and enrichment capacity also required boost in India. For this India needs advanced technology to fully utilise the spent fuel and for enhancing its enrichment capacity.
10) On the front of Infrastructure and Manpower needs, India has worked very hard for development of Industrial infrastructure to manufacture equipment and skill development. Many Universities and institutes provide engineering manpower for NPP.
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