PremiumNuclear power has always been part of India’s plans. But there’s a new impetus to the nuclear strategy, given energy security concerns in the wake of the Ukraine War. Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State for Science and Technology, has stated in the Lok Sabha that five new locations have been earmarked for building nuclear power facilities and funds have been sanctioned for setting up 10 new Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), each with a capacity of 700 MW.
The 10 new plants will deploy indigenous technology in “fleet mode". The same blueprint will be rolled out at the 10 plants, within five years from start of construction. India currently has 22 nuclear reactors with an aggregated capacity of 6780 MW (6.8 GW), contributing about 3 per cent of total grid-connected capacity. The PSU power generator, NTPC, has plans to add another 20-30 GW (Gigawatt) of nuclear by 2040.
The world over, nuclear fission is making a comeback as an alternative to fossil fuels like natural gas, coal and naphtha. Germany, Japan and South Korea have switched from decommissioning nuclear capacity to building new capacity. China is accelerating plans to increase capacity. France and Finland, which both meet over 60 per cent of electricity needs from nuclear, are ramping up.
You might also like
Will CNG upstage diesel as fuel of choice?
Aryan Khan & a devil-may-care bet on premium liquor
Why Godrej Properties may take time to recover
What the sharpest growth in risky AIFs means
Using nuclear effectively requires the deft negotiation of domestic political opposition, as well as managing geopolitical complexity. Nuclear fission – splitting elements like uranium into new elements with concomitant release of energy – has been controversial since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nuclear fusion – generation of energy from squeezing elements together to create new elements – is nowhere near commercially viable though recent new experimental breakthroughs show promise.
Power plants use controlled fission reactions to release heat that turns water into steam directed under high pressure to turn turbines. The process is efficient: weight for weight, uranium generates over two million times as much energy compared to coal or gas. It is zero-emission. The levelised cost of nuclear over the lifetime of a plant is lower per unit than of fossil fuels.
But it generates lethal radioactive waste, which must be safely stored in specially constructed facilities for centuries. The fuel and waste can be enriched to “weapons-grade", meaning it can be potentially used to produce bombs. This adds a special dimension to the geopolitics of the nuclear value-chain. Decommissioning an old nuclear plant is also a hazardous, expensive exercise.
While France, Germany, Finland and many other countries including India have run nuclear plants safely for seven decades, there have been two catastrophic accidents. In April 1986, a meltdown at the Chernobyl plant in what was then the Soviet Union caused a large number of deaths. It necessitated a mass evacuation of 350,000 people, and the creation of a 2,600 square km exclusion zone with lethal levels of radioactivity. In 2011, the Fukushima plant in Japan was flooded out by a tsunami, which led to contamination of the Pacific Ocean and the evacuation of 150,000. There are concerns the Ukraine War could result in fresh disasters at the decommissioned Chernobyl plant and the operational Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
India has seen persistent protests for over a decade by civil society groups centred on the nuclear plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. In addition, due to India’s declared possession of nuclear weapons in 1998, sanctions have affected technology transfers and fuel imports.
In 2008, when a nuclear cooperation deal was signed with the US, the left wing parties quit the ruling UPA alliance in protest. India also received a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group in the same deal. The NSG is a group of 48 nations which export nuclear fuels and power equipment, while trying to ensure non-proliferation of weapons.
India has since signed nuclear cooperation agreements with France, Russia, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Japan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Korea, and it has agreements to import uranium from France, Kazakhstan, Australia, Canada and Russia. It has developed its own technology, and invested in R&D to examine the possibility of using thorium fuel (of which ample domestic reserves exist) rather than uranium (which has to be imported). Most Indian reactors are inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure fuel is not enriched for military use.
India’s nuclear expansion plan is among the largest in the world and having been forced to develop its own technology has its positive side. But ramping up nuclear in this fashion will require navigating many diplomatic pitfalls to safeguard the fuel and equipment value-chain. It will also mean allaying domestic opposition, and addressing legitimate concerns about safety and educating citizens.
Elsewhere in Mint
In Opinion, Raghu Raman argues for corporate rituals and spaces for free expression of mind. Tulsi Jayakumar tells what Indian startups must learn from a fallen unicorn. Siddharth Pai says NFTs look headed the crypto way. Long Story narrates how Foxconn fixed its faltering India operations.