The Union government is examining ways to amend the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, to pave the way for government and private companies from the non-nuclear sector to participate in nuclear power generation.
Stating this, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said, “It is a long process. But a decision is expected soon.”
The amendment to the Act has assumed importance with many Indian non-nuclear power generating companies showing interest in nuclear power generation. In fact, many large domestic and international players have already started discussions for possible tie-ups.
“The country needs to harness the potential of nuclear energy to meet its energy needs,” Kakodkar said, adding that the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India had augmented its production capacity to 1,000 MWe.
Kakodkar said the country was also exploring new uranium reserves and with the introduction of new technologies the uranium production was expected to double in the coming 4-5 years.
The country’s indigenous prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), which could produce 500 MWe of power at rates cheaper than the existing atomic reactors, would begin functioning by 2010-11, Kakodkar said.
The PFBR, which will remain outside the purview of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors under the proposed civilian nuclear deal with the US, is being built at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu. The construction work is progressing as per schedule.
The PFBR will produce electricity through the recycling of plutonium and depleted uranium recovered from the spent fuel of the pressurised heavy water reactors.
“The unique feature of this reactor is that it produces more fuel than it consumes, thus reducing power generation costs,” Kakodkar said.
Right to reprocess the spent fuel from future reactor projects is one of the contentious issues in the negotiations on the 123 Agreement to operationalise the civilian nuclear deal with the US.
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