nuclear-news

…….the question of ageing of the existing reactors. For example, the reactors at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station are around 40 years old, while the Rajasthan, Madras and Narora plants also are inching close to 30 years. If the average life cycle of a reactor is 40 years, then the NPCIL is sure to have more than half a dozen of the existing 20 operational plants ready for decommissioning by 2020. This will bring in additional costs and challenges of decommissioning as well.

With questions raised regarding the design of the French EPR reactors, which were supposedly offered to India when the nation’s premier Mr Nicolas Sarkozy had come to India last year, the slow progress in agreement with American companies for reactors (nuclear liability issues), and the growing din of protests, the target of reaching 20,000 MW by 2020 definitely looks distant…..

The Department has always been bullish on the power programme. It has recently said that 14 units of the 700 MW reactors would be set up in the next few years, which means an addition of roughly 10,000 MW. It is proactively trying to tell the media and people that its reactors are safe, and that it is alive to people’s concerns……

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) had, during the mid-1980s, set a target of installing a capacity of 10,000 MW by 2000. It barely managed to reach around 2000 MW. The reasons attributed were, resource crunch, technology issues, environmental problems, among other issues.

The recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, the shortage of uranium, the questions raised about the French reactor design of Areva, the growing opposition to new power projects proposed in the country, as well as the earlier record of the DAE have cast aspersions on how close it will get to the ambitious figure of 20,000 MW…..

genuine fears among the people regarding the general safety of the operating reactors in the country, though the nuclear establishment is quick to respond to the contrary.

The consequence of all these developments has been a slowdown in the expansion programme of the Nuclear Power Corporation, which spearheads the nuclear energy programme. The PM has asked for a thorough examination of the safety features of the reactors. The anti-nuclear lobby has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), while protests are on the rise at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, a new site for a large reactor project, which got the approval for work to begin.

In Kudankulam, protests have been getting bigger. The Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa herself wrote to the PM, who, in turn, has assured that all safety aspects are in place…..

There is also the question of ageing of the existing reactors. For example, the reactors at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station are around 40 years old, while the Rajasthan, Madras and Narora plants also are inching close to 30 years. If the average life cycle of a reactor is 40 years, then the NPCIL is sure to have more than half a dozen of the existing 20 operational plants ready for decommissioning by 2020. This will bring in additional costs and challenges of decommissioning as well.

With questions raised regarding the design of the French EPR reactors, which were supposedly offered to India when the nation’s premier Mr Nicolas Sarkozy had come to India last year, the slow progress in agreement with American companies for reactors (nuclear liability issues), and the growing din of protests, the target of reaching 20,000 MW by 2020 definitely looks distant…. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2592039.ece?homepage=true