Post-waiver, power output at N-plants may double

India could nearly double its nuclear power generation with around 2 kg of fissile uranium per day (the fuel that is ready to be fed into nuclear reactors), according to an official of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

Unlike fossil fuels like coal or gas, uranium — a radioactive material — generates many times more electricity per unit weight of fuel. This means, a gram of fissile uranium will generate 1 Mw of electricity based on nuclear reactors installed in India, the official added.

At present, state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) alone produces nuclear power in the country. It has an installed capacity of 4,020 Mwe (mega watt equivalent), and produced 16,930 million units of electricity in financial year 2007-08.

Power generated from the NPCIL-run reactors has been low due to unavailability of fuel. The company, however, refused to give details of its exact fuel requirement and availability citing the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, which prohibits Uranium Corporation of India, which carries out mining of nuclear fuel resources, from divulging production and consumption details of uranium.

The process of getting fissile uranium from the uranium ore is a five-stage process — mining, milling to remove the impurities, conversion, enrichment and fabrication. From the first stage where uranium ore (called ‘yellow cake’ or ‘uranium oxide’) is extracted, only 0.7 per cent comes out as fissile uranium, two nuclear experts said.

According to the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, India has around 95,000 uranium oxide or uranium ore. In such a case, why does it suffer from uranium shortage?

“These deposits (referring to uranium ore) are spread over 28 deposits in 10 states. About 19 of these deposits have less than 3,000 tonnes, which makes mining an expensive proposition. Such deposits may not sustain investments in mining and milling facilities for the life of extraction in the present circumstances,” said Dipesh Dipu, principal consultant (mining), PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“The lack of fuel availability for NPCIL is due to issues related to uranium mining. At present, mining is being carried out only in Jharkhand. There are mining prospects in Meghalaya but it could not be opened because of local opposition. Similarly, mining could not be carried out in Andhra Pradesh because we do not have the permission,” according to the DAE official.

In 2007-08, nuclear power contributed only 2.5 per cent of the total electricity generation, though installed capacity is 3 per cent of India’s total. This is mainly due to unavailability of fuel to run the 15 nuclear plants. The atomic energy department estimates that nuclear share would increase to 8.5 per cent by 2032 and 16.5 per cent by 2052.

India, as a part of its nuclear strategy, has embarked on a three-pronged approach. First, natural uranium will fuel pressurised heavy water reactors. The second stage involves using fast breeder reactors based on plutonium which will be extracted from the spent fuel of the first stage. Finally, the country’s vast thorium reserve will be used to generate electricity.

The central government has commercialised the first stage of the programme and pilot projects have been set up to test the second stage.

In the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period (2007-12), the government wants to set up eight more indigenous 700 Mwe pressurised heavy water reactors, in addition to the 10 light water reactors of 1,000 Mwe based on foreign co-operation.

The recent waiver from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is likely to increase capacity addition and also better plant load factor of existing plants.

At present, NPCIL is undertaking five projects — 2,000 Mw from two plants under the Kudankulum Atomic Power Project in Tamil Nadu, 440 Mw from two plants under the Rajasthan Atomic Power Project, and a 220-Mw plant from the Kaiga Atomic Power Plant in Karnataka — which will add 2,660 Mwe of additional capacity.

These two alone will increase the installed capacity by 15,600 MWe, though it will take a minimum of five to six years to commission a nuclear power plant after a site has been identified.