'Nuclear reactors meet all safety requirements'

Mr. S. B. Bhoje, Director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam writes:

This has reference to the article entitled `Scrap plans for fast breeder reactor', by Mr. Arjun Makhijani, USA, which appeared in TheHindu, April 25. The article is based on arguments that are totally baseless with many factual errors. Today there are 439 nuclear reactors in operation and are supplying 16 per cent of the world's electricity. In a number of countries, a significant part of electricity comes from nuclear sources. Some examples are: (per cent of total electricity) France 75, Belgium 57, Sweden 47, Korea 43, Japan 35, Germany 31, U.K. 29, U.S. 20. Different types of reactors are operating in these countries and each country makes its own selection based on their suitability with respect to local conditions, availability of technology, availability of fuel, safety, manufacturing infrastructure, economy, etc. The choice of reactors for Indian Nuclear Programme is also based on specific Indian conditions, particularly available nuclear fuel resources. These reactors fully meet all safety requirements and in fact, on comparative basis, Indian PHWRs, Indian FBRs and VVER 1000 which we have adopted have many superior safety characteristics.

India's energy resources are broadly as follows: (in billion tonnes of coal equivalent) Coal: 200, Oil: 2, Gas: 1.3, Hydro: 0.2/year, Uranium once through: 1, Uranium in breeder: 180 and Thorium in breeder: 1000. One can see that coal and nuclear energy through breeders are the only bulk energy resources and India must exploit them in a safe and economic manner. They provide energy security to the country. The oil import bill for the financial year 2000-2001 is about Rs. 75,000 crores. This dependence on import if allowed to increase unabated is going to hurt us very heavily in the balance of trade. Renewable energy sources are important contributors, but bulk energy needs of industries and dense urban population require large central generating stations.

As on date, there are 92 boiling water reactors (BWR) in the world, of which 35 are in the U.S. and 28 in Japan. All of them work well and there has been no concern for any radiation more than the permissible limits from their operation. The Tarapur Atomic Power Station, a BWR, in India has operated successfully for 30 years and is supplying the cheapest non-hydro electricity to the country, with radioactivity releases well within the regulatory limits. The radiation doses from the Indian PHWR are also well within the regulatory limits and many such reactors are also operating in other countries like Canada, Korea, Romania, Argentina and China (under construction). The proposed project at Kudankulam, 2x1000 MWe VVER (PWR), is a state-of-the-art reactor system and its safety design has been evaluated by experts including those from the International Atomic Energy Agency. It is baseless to say that they do not meet international safety standards. All power reactors in India are producing electricity in a profitable manner and have demonstrated excellence in commercial operation.

India has built the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam and it is in operation since 1985, built at a cost of Rs. 80 crores, with about 80 per cent indigenous content. The reactor has worked well leading to realisation of technology objectives. There is practically no radiation doses to the operating personnel and radioactivity releases to the environment are extremely low. This is as expected with the Fast Breeder Reactor technology. The radiation levels in FBR are 1 to 2 per cent of the permissible limits. Therefore, the concern for radiation is totally baseless. It is well known fact that FBR programmes in a few countries have been stopped, the reasons being saturation in electricity consumption rates, stable population, availability of other alternate cheaper energy resources (e.g. natural gas, uranium). The Phenix, a 250 MWe reactor in France, and the BN350 reactor in Kazaksthan (former USSR) have operated well. As prototypes, they were designed for 20 years life and there is no wonder that they are being shutdown now, at the end of their designed and extended lives. The BN600 reactor in Russia is operating very well since 1980 and has recorded very high capacity factor. Russia is building three more fast breeder reactors of 800 MWe capacity, based on the successful experience with BN 600.

The cost of the early demonstration breeder reactors were higher compared to PWRs because it was considered affordable at that time in the scenario of rising energy demands and uranium cost.

Since then, efforts have been made in improving the designs for cost reduction without compromising on safety. The examples are EFR design in Europe (1500 MWe), DFBR 660 MWe in Japan, BN800 and BN 600M in Russia.

The costs have been considerably brought down and the present costs are comparable to PWRs. The cost of PFBR has been estimated based on the cost data of FBTR, orders for the completed manufacturing technology development for PFBR components and 500 MWe power stations equipment as applicable to PFBR. Therefore, the cost of Rs. 3,000 crores is reasonable. The unit energy cost of about Rs. 4 from PFBR, in the year 2008, is quite reasonable and Makhijani's prediction that it would be Rs. 50 is a wild imagination.

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