A Seminar On Indian Nuclear Power
Programme
Introduction: increased emphasis on sustainable, environmentally friendly
T
and renewable sources of energy options such as wind,
he Institution of Engineers (India) Mysore Centre and
solar, biomass etc. Since a proper mix of the various re-
the Rotary Club of Mysore West organised a one day
sources and methods of electricity generation has to be
Seminar on Indian Nuclear Power Programme on May
planned to sustain regular supply of electrical energy even
5th 2002 at Sir. M.V. Auditorium of the Institution, in Mysore.
under large variations in Hydro reservoir waters under the
India has realised that implementing reforms through re-
vagaries of monsoon, Thermal and Nuclear stations alone
structuring of power sector is the only solution to rescue
have to bear the burden of meeting the high base-load re-
the power sector illness, which is traced to inadequate bud-
quirement of nearly 80 to 90% of the total energy require-
get provision under developing economy to meet the en-
ments. Under these requirments and with the limitations in
ergy shortage, revenue shortfalls due to low tariffs, free elec-
fossil fuel deposits, it is inevitable that sufficient capacity
tricity policy, large system losses and poor response from
Nuclear power stations (with fast breeder reactor) have to
investors. The method of restructuring the organisation man-
be built to achieve self sufficiency in the ever increasing
aging the power sectors, which are the wings of either the
energy requirement of a developing country like our’s in
state or the central governments, will have to be tailered to
the near future.
suit the Indian context. Greater importance is therefore at-
tached to planning availability of adequate and quality en- Indian Nuclear Power Programme
ergy service to the public, from among the various options
open to India in the new millenium. Senior experts from the Department of Atomic Energy pre-
sented their papers in the Seminar, on various aspects of
Planning of electrical energy development options in the Indian Nuclear Power programme such as, its present
India status, perspective planning, its health, safety and environ-
mental aspects, comparative risks in different electricity gen-
An integrated approach to achieve self sufficiency in elec-
eration systems, regulatory aspects and application of Ra-
trical energy generation could be through conventional
dio isotopes and Radiation Technology, as per the brief
energy resources such as large Hydro, Thermal, and nuclear
details given hereunder. Further the required clarifications
power stations and non-conventional energy resources with
and clearing of the doubts expressed by the largely at-
tended learned delegates comprising of Scien-
tists and engineers, were satisfactory furnished
by the speakers in a fotnight manner during the
useful ‘Question and Answer hour’ of the Semi-
nar.
Nuclear energy is compact, environment friendly
and is not associated with the release of green
house gases. India is endowed with moderate
uranium resources, where as the thorium re-
sources are very large. The department of
atomic energy has formulated three stage
nuclear power development programme con-
sisting of (1) Pressurised heavy water reactors
(PHWRs) using natural uranium (2) Fast breeder
reactors (FBRs) using plutonium fuel and (3)
Advanced nuclear power reactors using uranium
Left to Right : 1. Er. M. Lakshmana - Hon. Secretary, IE (I) Mysore. 2. Er. Prof. V. 233 as fuel in thorium-uranium 233.
Chandrashekar - Chairman, Organisation Committee, IE (I), Mysore. 3. Shri S.B.
Bhoje - Director, IGCAR, Kalpakkam. 4. Dr. D.V. Gopinath - CE, Energy & Under the first stage PHWR programme, 14
Environment, Mysore. 5. Shri A. Madhavan - Retired Diplomat and former nuclear power reactor units are in operation with
ambassador to Germany & Japan. 6. Shri S. Krishnan - Sr. Ex. Director, NPCIL, a total capacity of 2720 MWe. An additional
Mumbai 7. Shri A.R. Sundararajan - Director, SRI (Kalpakkam) AERB, Mumbai. capacity of 3960 MWe (6 PHWRS and two light
8. Dr. N. Ramamoorthy - CEO, BRIT, Mumbai. 9. Shri R.C. Kapoor - Associate water reactors (LWRs) are under construction to
Director, RG, IGCAR, Kalpakkam. 10. Dr. S.M. Lee - Director, SHINE Group,
reach a total nuclear power capacity of 6680
IGCAR, Kalpakkam. 11. Er. A.L. Puttaswamy - Chairman, IE (I), Mysore.
MWe by the end of the year 2008.
An International Journal of Nuclear Power - Vol. 16 No. 1-2 (2002) 63
A beginning has been made on the 2nd stage
programme of FBRs by the Indira Gandhi centre
for Atomic Research (IGCAR) to construct the first
prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) of 500
MWe capacity during early part of x plan.
As regards the third stage on Advanced Heavy
water Reactor (AHWRs), design demonstration
work on utilisation of thorium is in progress at
the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
The present nuclear power capacity of 2720 MWe
is planned to be increased to 4020 MWe by end
of x plan (March 2007) and further increase up to
9335 MWe by the end of XI plan (March 2012)
and reach 20,000 MWe by the year 2020. The
safety record of nuclear power in India has been Left to Right : 1. Er. M. Lakshmana - Hon. Secretary, IE (I) Mysore. 2. Er. A.L.
Puttaswamy - Chairman, IE (I), Mysore. 3. Mr. A. Madhavan - Retired Diplomat
very good over the past several decades and In-
and former ambassador to Germany & Japan. 4. Mr. Mahesh N. Urs - President,
dia has achieved a high overall annual average Rotary West, Mysore. 5. Dr. D.V. Gopinath - CE, Energy & Environment, Mysore.
plant load factor of 85%.
The special features of a fast breeder reactor is that the The major safety consideration involved in the Nuclear power
nuclear fission of plutomium caused by fast neutrons, re- production is the containment and safe handling of the ra-
leases more number of neutrons in the fission process, than dio active materials and the associated radiation. Safety
in uranium 235 in the thermal reactors. Further the addi- Regulatiosns call for design of inherently safe plant with
tional neutrons released, combined with the fact that ab- adequate control system of high degree of reliability, com-
sorption of fast electrons is less in coolant and structural prehensive platn protection system with redundancy, diver-
materials, produce more fuel than is consumed in the gen- sity and fail safe operation of its component systems, and
eration of electricity, increasing the fissile materials quan- establishment of an environmental survey laboratory at the
tity, resulting in increased installed capacity of FBR itself. site to monitor the same.
For example 0.6% of natural uranium utilised in electricity
Atomic energy regulatory board ensures that all nuclear
energy production in PHWR, increases to over 75% in FBR.
plants prepare and maintain well conceived emergency pre-
Hence the nuclear energy resource through FBR in the world paredness to mitgate the radio-logical consequences of a
[2000 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe)] would be much reactor accident, however low the probability of its occur-
larger than the combined energy resource of coal (517 mtoe), rence may be.
oil (138 mtoe) and gas (126 mtoe), identified in the whole
The fields of Radiation oncology and nuclear medicine have
world so far. As far as India is considered, the normal en-
carved out special positions in patient care in medical insti-
ergy resources are oil (2btce), gas (2btce), Hydro (84 Gwe),
tutions. The applications in Agricultural field and the Radia-
coal (200 bt), uranium (180 btce in FBR), thorium (920 btce
tion processing of food and Agricultural products, espe-
in FBR). As such coal and nuclear are the only two large
cially for disinfection and better preservation enhancing
resources available for energy generation India. Therefore
shelf-life merits special mention.
Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) provides along term energy
security to the country. Time will only tell that the planet A. L. Puttaswamy, Chairman, Institute of Engineers (I), Mysore
cannot manage without nuclear energy for very long. Local Centre, Mysore.
64 Nu-Power
