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==Accidents==
Many nuclear accidents have occurred in India:<ref name=bks/>
*1979: the [[Tarapur Nuclear Power Plant]] suffered a partial meltdown in 1979.<ref name=bks/>
*1993: a fire and explosion forced the closure of the [[Narora Nuclear Power Plant]].<ref name=bks/>
*1995: the [[Rajasthan Atomic Power Station]] at Kota leaked radioactive water into a lake for two months.<ref name=bks/>
* December 2006: one of the pipes carrying radioactive waste from the uranium enrichment facility at Jadugoda burst and distributed highly radioactive materials as far as 100 km away.<ref name=bks/>

It is estimated that before the accident at Tarapur, lack of proper maintenance exposed more than 3000 Indian personnel to "very high" and "hazardous" radiation levels. Researchers at the American University calculated at least 124 "hazardous incidents" at nuclear plants in India between 1993 and 1995.<ref name=bks>Benjamin K. Sovacool. A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia, ''Journal of Contemporary Asia'', Vol. 40, No. 3, August 2010, pp. 380.</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 01:28, 23 June 2010

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Atomic Power Stations in India (view)
 Active plants
 Under construction
 Planned plants

Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydro and renewable sources of electricity.[1] As of 2010, India has 19 nuclear power plants in operation generating 4,560 MW while 4 other are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 2,720 MW.[2] India is also involved in the development of fusion reactors through its participation in the ITER project.

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] United Kingdom,[9] Canada,[10] Namibia,[citation needed] Mongolia,[citation needed] Argentina,[citation needed] Kazakhstan[11] In February 2009, India also signed a $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] Indigenous atomic reactors include TAPS-3, and -4, both of which are 540 MW reactors.[17] India's $717 million fast breeder reactor project is expected to be operational by 2010.[18]

Nuclear Power Growth in India

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 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.[19] 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.[20]

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.[21] Even if India were quadruple its nuclear power output (and reactor base) to 20GW 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.[21]

Nuclear power plants

Currently, nineteen nuclear power reactors produce 4,560.00 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 4		 1180
Tarapur NPCIL Maharashtra BWR (PHWR) 160 x 2
540 x 2		 1400
Total 19 4560

The projects under construction are:

Power station Operator State Type Units Total capacity (MW)
Kaiga NPCIL Karnataka PHWR 220 x 1 220
Kudankulam NPCIL Tamil Nadu VVER-1000 1000 x 2 2000
Kalpakkam NPCIL Tamil Nadu PFBR 500 x 1 500
Total 4 2720

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 Maharashtra 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

Accidents

Many nuclear accidents have occurred in India:[22]

It is estimated that before the accident at Tarapur, lack of proper maintenance exposed more than 3000 Indian personnel to "very high" and "hazardous" radiation levels. Researchers at the American University calculated at least 124 "hazardous incidents" at nuclear plants in India between 1993 and 1995.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://cea.nic.in/power_sec_reports/Executive_Summary/2008_12/27-33.pdf
  2. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSDEL16711520080818
  3. ^ http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=65381
  4. ^ http://www.livemint.com/2008/06/30222448/Uranium-shortage-holding-back.html
  5. ^ http://powermin.gov.in/JSP_SERVLETS/internal.jsp#
  6. ^ http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=321896
  7. ^ http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jan/25france.htm
  8. ^ http://www.livemint.com/2008/10/09005930/Bush-signs-IndiaUS-nuclear-de.html?d=1
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ [2]
  11. ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Kazakh_oil_deals_hang_in_balance/articleshow/4019306.cms
  12. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7883223.stm
  13. ^ NTPC, Nuclear Power to Spend $3 Billion on India Atomic Plants
  14. ^ http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/slowdown-not-to-affect-indias-nuclear-plans/19/57/53400/on
  15. ^ Nuclear power generation to touch 6,000 Mw by next year
  16. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL360076520090203
  17. ^ (http://www.npcil.nic.in/PlantsInOperation.asp
  18. ^ India's fast breeder reactor nears second milestone
  19. ^ http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/E696AFE1CBD8BA4C652574A600103BE1?OpenDocument
  20. ^ http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/10012202/At-G8-Singh-Bush-reaffirm-c.html
  21. ^ a b http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/atomsforwarfinal4.pdf
  22. ^ a b c d e f Benjamin K. Sovacool. A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 40, No. 3, August 2010, pp. 380.
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