Future Energy Source for Development ..
“When the agreement goesthrough, India is expected to generate an additional 25,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020, bringing total estimated nuclear power generation to 45,000 MW.”
Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydro and renewable sources of electricity. As of 2010, India has 19 nuclear power plants in operation generating 4,560 MWwhile 4 other are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 2,720 MW. India is also involved in the development of fusion reactors through its participation in the ITER project. Since early 1990s, Russia has been a major source of nuclear fuel to India. Due to dwindling domestic uranium reserves, electricity generation from nuclear power in India declined by 12.83% from 2006 to 2008.
India has signed nuclear deals with several other countries including France, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Namibia, Mongolia, Argentina, Kazakhstan In February 2009, India also signed a $700million dealwith Russia for the supply of 2000 tons nuclear fuel. India now envisages to increase the contribution of nuclear power to overall electricity generation capacity from4.2%to 9%within 25 years. In 2010, India's installed nuclear power generation capacity will increase to 6,000 MW. As of 2009, India stands 9th in the world in terms of number of operational nuclear power reactors and is constructing 9more, including two EPRs being constructed by France's Areva. Indigenous atomic reactors include TAPS-3, and -4, both of which are 540MW reactors. India's $717 million fast breeder reactor
project is expected to be operational by 2010.
Nuclear Power Growth in India
India, being a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, has been subjected to a defacto nuclear embargo from members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) cartel. This has prevented India from obtaining commercial nuclear fuel, nuclear power plant components and services from the international market, thereby forcing India to develop its own fuel, components and services for nuclear power generation. The NSG embargo has had both negative and positive consequences for India's Nuclear Industry. On one hand, the NSG regime has constrained India from freely importing nuclear fuel at the volume and cost levels it would like to support the country's goals of expanding its nuclear power gen- eration capacity to at least 20,000 MW by 2020. Also, by precluding India from taking advantage of the economies of scale and safety innovations of the global nuclear industry, the NSG regime has driven up the capital and operating costs and damaged the achievable safety potential of Indian nuclear power plants.
On the other hand, the NSG embargo has forced the Indian government and bureaucracy to support and actively fund the development of Indian nuclear technologies and industrial capacities in all key areas required to create and maintain a domestic nuclear industry. This has resulted in the creation of a large pool of nuclear scientists, engineers and technicians that have developed new and unique innovations in the areas of Fast Breeder Reactors, Thermal Breeder Reactors, the Thorium fuel cycle, nuclear fuel reprocessing and Tritium extraction & production.
The Indian nuclear power industry is expected to undergo a significant expansion in the coming years thanks in part to the passing of The Indo-US nuclear deal. This agreement will allow India to carry out trade of nuclear fuel and technologies with other countries and significantly enhance its power generation capacity. when the agreement goes through, India is expected to generate an additional 25,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020, bringing total estimated nuclear power generation to 45,000 MW. India has already been using imported enriched uranium and are currently under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, but it has developed various aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle to support its reactors. Development of select technologies has been strongly affected by limited imports. Use of heavy water reactors has been particularly attractive for the nation because it allows Uranium to be burnt with little to no enrichment capabilities.India has also done a great amount of work in the development of a Thorium centered fuel cycle. While Uranium deposits in the nation are limited there are much greater reserves of Thorium and it could provide hundreds of times the energy with the same mass of fuel. The fact that Thorium can theoretically be utilized in heavy water reactors has tied the development of the two. A prototype reactor that would burnUranium-Plutonium fuel while irradiating a Thorium blanket is under construction at the Madras/ Kalpakkam Atomic Power Station.
The domestic reserve of 80,000 to 112,000 tons of uranium (approx 1% of global uranium reserves) is large enough to supply all of India's commercial and military reactors as well as supply all the needs of India's nuclear weapons arsenal. Currently, India's nuclear power reactors consume, at most, 478 metric tonnes of uranium per year. Even if India were quadruple its nuclear power output (and reactor base) to 20GW by 2020, nuclear power generation would only consume 2000 metric tonnes of uranium per annum. Based on India's known commercially viable reserves of 80,000 to 112,000 tons of uranium, this represents a 40 to 50 years uranium supply for India's nuclear power reactors (note with reprocessing and breeder reactor technology, this supply could be stretched out many times over). Furthermore, the uranium requirements of India's Nuclear Arsenal are only a fifteenth (1/15) of that required for power generation (approx. 32 tonnes), meaning that India's domestic fissile material supply is more than enough to meet all needs for it strategic nuclear arsenal. Therefore, India has sufficient uranium resources to meet its strategic and power requirements for the foreseeable future.
Nuclear Power Plants
Currently, nineteen nuclear power reactors produce 4,560.00 MW (2.9% of total installed base). The projects under construction are:
- Kaiga- karnataka(3 reactors)
- Kakrapar-Gujarat(2 reactors)
- Kalpakkam-Tamilnadu(2reactors)
- Narora-Uttarpradesh(2 reactors)
- Rawatbhatta-Rajasthan(6 reactors)
- Tarapur-Maharashtra(4 reactors)
- Kaiga-karnataka
- Kundanakulam-tamilnadu
- Kalapakkam-tamilnadu
Atomic Energy Commission of India
The Atomic Energy Commission is a governing body functioning under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India. The DAE is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister. The Indian Atomic Energy Commission was first set up in August 1948 in the then Department of Scientific Research, which was created a few months earlier in June 1948. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)was set up on August 3, 1954 under the direct charge of the Prime Minister through a Presidential Order. Subsequently, in accordance with a Government Resolution dated March 1, 1958, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)was established in the Department of Atomic Energy. The then PrimeMinister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru also laid a copy of this Resolution on the table of the Lok Sabha on March 24, 1958. Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha was the first chairman of the commission.
Salient Milestones of Atomic Energy in India
March. 12, 1944 : Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabhawrites to Sir Dorabji Tata Trust for starting NuclearResearch in India
December 19, 1945 : Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai is inaugurated.
April 15, 1948 : Atomic Energy Act is passed
August 10, 1948 : Atomic Energy Commission is constituted
August 03, 1954 : Department of Atomic Energy is created.
January 20, 1957 : Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) is inaugurated
January 22, 1967 : AEET is named as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
April 11, 1967 : Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) is set up at Hyderabad for producing
electronic systems, instruments and components
December 31, 1968 : Nuclear Fuel Complex is set up at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
March 12, 1969 : Reactor ResearchCentre (RRC) starts at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. The Centre is
fully established in 1971. It is named as IndiraGandhi Centre for atomic reseach (IGCAR) onDecember 18, 1985.
October 02, 1969 : Tarapur Atomic Power Station starts commercial operation
May 18, 1974 : Peaceful underground Nuclear Experiment is conducted at Pokhran, Rajasthan
February 19, 1984 : Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT) at Indore (Madhya Pradesh) is inaugurated
May 11 & 13, 1998 : Five underground nuclear tests are conducted at Pokhran Range, Rajasthan
February 12, 2002 : India signs the biggest contract with the Russian Federation for the Nuclear
Power Station at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. March
06-March-2005 : India's first 540MWe Nuclear Power Reactor Tarapur Unit 4 Attains Criticality.
04-June-2005 : TAPS 4 synchronised to the grid
Organisation profile of IAEA:
The IAEA is the world´s center of cooperation in the nuclear field. It was set up as the world´s "Atoms for Peace" organization in 1957 within the United Nations family. The Agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies The IAEA Secretariat is headquartered at the Vienna International Centre in Vienna, Austria . Operational liaison and regional offices are located in Geneva, Switzerland; New York, USA; Toronto, Canada; and Tokyo, Japan. The IAEA runs or supports research centers and scientific laboratories in Vienna and Seibersdorf, Austria; Monaco; andTrieste, Italy. The IAEA Secretariat is a team of 2200 multi-disciplinary professional and support staff from more than 90 countries. The Agency is led by Director General Yukiya Amano and six Deputy Directors General who head the major departments. IAEA programmes and budgets are set through decisions of its policymaking bodies - the 35-member Board of Governors and the General Conference of all Member States. Reports on IAEA activities are submitted periodically or as cases warrant to the UN Security Council and UN General Assembly.IAEA financial resources include the regular budget and voluntary contributions. The Regular Budget for 2008 amounts to € 277 million. The target for voluntary contributions to the Technical Cooperation Fund for 2008 is $80 million.
IAEA Mission And Programmes
The IAEA´smission is guided by the interests and needs of Member States, strategic plans and the vision embodied in the IAEA Statute. Three main pillars - or areas of work - underpin the IAEA´s mission: Safety and Security; Science and Technology; and Safeguards and Verification.
Relationship with United Nations
As an independent international organization related to the United Nations system, the IAEA´s relationship with the UN is regulated by special agreement. In terms of its Statute, the IAEA reports annually to the UN General Assembly and, when appropriate, to the Security Council regarding non-compliance by States with their safeguards obligations as well as on matters relating to international peace and security.
-sarath chandra
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