Rising stakes

ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION Chairman Anil Kakodkar (right) with NPCIL Chairman and Managing Director S.K Jain at Tarapur on the occasion of TAPS-3 gaining criticality. - SHASHI ASHIWAL

India's nuclear power generation capacity is set to grow tremendously as all projects under way go full steam ahead.

FOR several reasons, 2006 is a watershed in the history of India's nuclear power programme. On March 2, India and the United States agreed to cooperate in nuclear power technology; Prime Minister set a Manmohan Singh revised target of generating of 40,000 MWe of nuclear power by 2030; the indigenously built third reactor at Tarapur, Maharashtra, with a capacity of 540 MWe, was commissioned on May 21; India formally joined the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project as an equal partner in Brussels on May 24; pre-project work got under way at Rawatbhatta in Rajasthan and Kakrapar in Gujarat to build at each site two indigenous reactors of 700 MWe capacity; and Russia delivered on its promise to supply 60 tonnes of enriched uranium to the first two reactors at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS).

The March 2 agreement, signed during President George W. Bush's visit to India, ended 40 years of the country's nuclear isolation and paved the way for the sale of nuclear power reactors to India by the U.S., Russia, France and other countries. Consequent to the agreement, Manmohan Singh revised the nuclear power generation target, which was 20,000 MWe by 2020.

Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, signed an agreement in Brussels on May 24 along with representatives from six other countries to launch the construction of the ITER, which is a fusion reactor. The ITER, described as one of the most exciting science ventures, will be built at Cadarache in France in 30 years at a cost of $13 billion. The European Union, Russia, the U.S., Japan, India, South Korea and China take part in the project. "This is a truly crucial moment for the ITER project and for global scientific cooperation in general," said European Union Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik, who hosted the signing ceremony.

About India's participation in the ITER, Kakodkar, who is also Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), said at Tarapur on May 21 that India was working on fusion energy at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Ahmedabad, and that a small unit called `Aditya' had been operational there for a long time. A larger indigenously built unit was undergoing commissioning trials, he said. "On this basis, we have been accepted as an equal partner in the ITER. It is a large, collective project aimed at demonstrating fusion energy released at the level of 500 MWe. The Indian contribution to the project over a 10-year period will be Rs.2,500 crores. Some of the equipment for the ITER will be made in India by the Indian manufacturing industry... . They will be high-technology equipment. The Indian industry will have a firsthand feel of this kind of activity."

The Russian Federation kept its promise to supply 60 tonnes of enriched uranium to fuel TAPS-1 and 2 despite opposition from the U.S. TAPS-1 and 2 are light water reactors imported from the U.S., which use enriched uranium as fuel and light water as moderator and coolant. Reliable sources said the uranium shipment had reached the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) in Hyderabad in two consignments in pellet form. It would be fabricated into fuel bundles at the NFC and despatched to TAPS-1 and 2. At a press conference on April 8 at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, where two Russian reactors are being built, Russia's Minister for Atomic Energy S.V. Kiriyenko said Russia and India had reached an agreement by which his country would supply 60 tonnes of enriched uranium to TAPS-1 and 2 between March 15 and April 15. Kiriyenko defended the agreement as being within international norms. With the enriched uranium arriving at the NFC, the two recently modernised TAPS-1 and 2 would not face any fuel shortage for another seven years. Fuel shortage had bedevilled the units for about 25 years.

When the third unit of 540 MWe capacity - a Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) - reached criticality at Tarapur, Kakodkar, who was present in the gallery of the Control Room, called it a great achievement. He compared it with its twin, the fourth unit of a similar capacity, which was commissioned on March 6, 2005. He said he distinctly remembered the fourth unit's criticality, which was "far too smooth". The third unit exceeded it. "It shows the maturity that has been achieved in the entire system" and "it is an important milestone" in the growth of nuclear electricity in India, he added.

The indigenous PHWRs use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as both moderator and coolant.

S.K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), said the TAPS-3's commissioning had demonstrated that NPCIL had "a total, comprehensive capability in PHWR technology" and that "we have excelled all benchmarks in it in the market today".

Tarapur-3 is the 16th reactor in India to be commissioned and the total generation of nuclear electricity in the country now stands at 3,900 MWe. While the original estimated cost of construction of TAPS-3 and 4 was Rs.8,000 crores, it was brought down to Rs.6,500 crores. With "value engineering", the two units were built ultimately at a cost of Rs.6,100 crores. So the tariff for the electricity supplied to the beneficiary States had been reduced from Rs.4.30 to Rs.2.60 a unit. It may be further reduced to Rs.2.50 a unit.

O.P. Goyal, Station Director, TAPS-3 and 4, said the construction of two units was a massive task that entailed 3,500 km of cabling, 250 km of piping and 160 km of tubing. Computerised batching plants provided quality concrete in the construction of the two units. There was a great degree of mechanisation and automation in the construction. Mega packages, introduced for the first time, led to both the units being commissioned ahead of schedule. While the criticality of TAPS-3 was two months ahead of schedule, it would be synchronised to the grid in July, which would be seven months ahead of schedule, Goyal added.

The team which led the construction of TAPS-3 and 4 included R.K. Gargye, Chief Superintendent; H.D. Singh, Chief Construction Engineer; and T.R. Arora, Chief Engineer (Electrical and Instrumentation).

The NPCIL will not build 540 MWe PHWRs anymore. It will build only 700 MWe PHWRs. Pre-project activities are under way to build two each at Rawatbhatta and Kakrapar.