Indian Defence Review

There has been much debate in India for and against nuclear energy for electricity. The country witnessed unprecedented agitation preceding the commissioning of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), much of which was because of politics at the national and international level, latter apparently engineered through NGOs since the project involved Russian collaboration. Sure, nuclear safety is a must, which must be reviewed and improved continuously as pointed out by the IAEA recently, but can India do without nuclear energy? A dispassionate analysis would lead to an emphatic no. [¹]

Based on research undertaken in India, Nancy Joseph from the University of Washington wrote, “Although India has less than a fifth of the world population, it has close to 40 percent of the world’s population (400 million) without access to electricity”. [²] One year later, in October 2014, Chris Pederson writing for Breaking Energy quoted the United Nations in saying that with a population of one billion, around 300 million Indians today still lack access to electricity but that more than two-thirds of India’s population still rely on biomass (wood) and dung-based fuel to meet their energy needs for cooking. About a quarter of the country lacks access to the electrical grid, but India is still the fourth-largest energy consumer in the world, after China, the US, and Russia.

So, then, looking at future energy requirements we have to look at three factors: existing shortages; our population set to overtake China by 2025-30, and; the rate of GDP growth we need to sustain which would need rapid industrialization and consequently more energy demand. [³] Presently, our electric power consumption per capita per day basis (917 kWh) compared to China’s 3,298 kWh, Germany’s 7,081 kWh and America’s 13,246 kWh, global average being 2,600kWh. With approximately 276,000 MW of capacity today, India’s 12the Five-Year Plan (2012-17) estimates that an additional capacity of 88,537 MW is required over the plan period in order to address future demands.  [⁴]

Our National Energy Map drawn by TERI under aegis of Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India recommends similarly that in the interest of energy security and the need to reduce dependence on imports of conventional energy fuels, we need to undertake all possible options on the demand and supply side simultaneously, and that an integrated approach is essential. In respect of nuclear energy, the report recommends that nuclear energy should be stepped up to about 70 GW during the modeling time frame, from (2001-2031) but if the modeling time frame is extended beyond 2030, positive impacts of nuclear energy in the form of advanced thorium-based reactors can be realized, with an estimated potential of about 530 GW. The report emphasizes that since additional nuclear-based capacity displaces coal, it is important to enhance the penetration of this option to the extent possible.

Presently, India operates 21 nuclear reactors in seven power plants, supplying 3.5 percent of India’s electricity. Since 2008, India’s nuclear power generation capacity has been raised 50 to 80 percent. From the present capacity of 4,780 MW, the government plans to reach 14,600 MW by 2021 and 27,500 by 2032, eventually aiming to supply 25 percent of its electricity from nuclear power by 2050.  [⁵]

India’s first Thorium based 300 MW advanced heavy water reactor (AWHR) is to come up at Tarapur near Mumbai as a technology demonstrator with designed life of 100 years and may not require external water or electricity for a month for cooling the red hot core in case of an accident. India is said to hold more than 25 percent of global Thorium reserves (IAEA puts it at 67 percent – almost two third of global reserves). A Thorium nuclear reactor has no possibility of a meltdown like the Fukushima reactor because Thorium cannot sustain a nuclear chain reaction without priming, as a result of which fission stops by default. Though Thorium does require start-up by neutrons from a Uranium reactor, from thereon this activated Thorium reactor can activate other Thorium reactors discounting any further requirement of Uranium. With such reserves at disposal India should remain focused on goals. [⁶]

In the case of the Kudankulam NPP, the additional power units are to be equipped with diagnostic systems which will ensure that operating and maintenance personnel of the power plant respond to signs of disruption to the work of the equipment rather than to events, which is in addition to the passive and active cool down safety features. These additional systems being implemented in the units include Multi-D technology, which is a lifecycle management system enabling higher productivity and economic efficiency in the designed lifecycles of the facilities. [⁷] According to representatives of the Indian nuclear power industry, tariffs applied to the first stage of Kudankulam NPP (Rs 3.5 per kWh) are highly competitive, and almost twice lower than from projects proposed by USA in India.

Nuclear energy is better for the environment than use of coal and other fuels. The cost per unit may be higher than electricity from other sources but this should be viewed from the point of meeting overall electricity requirements while integrating it on the national electrical grid, and the possibility of earning revenue through exports. [⁸] Mainland China with 26 nuclear power reactors in operation and 23 under construction has planned additional reactors  including some of the world’s most advanced, to give more than a three-fold increase in nuclear capacity to at least 58 GWe by 2020, then some 150 GWe by 2030, and much more by 2050.

In December 2011 the National Energy Administration (NEA) said that China would make nuclear energy the foundation of its power-generation system in the next “10 to 20 years”, adding as much as 300 GWe of nuclear capacity over that period.  In July 2013, China set a wholesale power price of CNY 0.43 per kWh (7 US cents/kWh) for all new nuclear power projects, to promote the healthy development of nuclear power and guide investment into the sector. The price is to be kept relatively stable but will be adjusted with technology advances. Hong Kong gets 23 percent of its power from mainland China. A 2014 agreement increases this to 80 percent. The Hong Kong government plans to close down its coal-fired plants, and by 2020 to get 50 percent of its power from mainland China, 40 percent from gas locally (presently 22 percent) and 3 percent renewable energy. India needs to take a cue from all this.

Nuclear energy is essential to meet her future requirements and that can be capitalized upon by using the large reserves of Thorium available as natural resources.