Aec Chief Sees Private Sector Participation In N-Power

The private sectors entry in this area is inevitable as the government does not have the resources. But, for some time, we (the private sector and the AEC) will have to work in coordination, Chidambaram told Business Standard.

He did not see any security hazard in the entry of the private sector into the nuclear power sector. We have no such apprehension. We can ensure the necessary safeguards, he said.

Chidambaram said the private sector was already playing a vital role in providing engineering and technology back-up to the commissions programmes. Some 500 companies, including Larsen & Toubro and Walchand Engineering, are involved in fabrication and supply of hardware to atomic power stations.

 

The AEC chief reiterated that the power requirement of the country could be met only through the nuclear route. Thermal generation will remain the mainstay for several decades to come, he said, but expressed doubts about hydro-electricity or non-conventional energy making much headway.

Chidambaram admitted the AEC plan of adding a whopping 10,000 mw to the existing nuclear power generation has gone haywire, but he attributed this to lack of resources. After the recent visit of Prime Minister Deve Gowda to Barc (Bhaba Atomic Research Centre), we are hopeful of greater support, he said.

Chidambaram said two units of 500 mw each will be added to the Tarapore Atomic Station soon. The decision has been taken, the site is ready and the environmental clearance has been obtained, he said.

Plans were underway to add two more units of 220 mw each to the Kaiga Atomic System. One unit of 500 mw has been proposed for the Kota station, but this will depend upon availability of funds, he said.

Chidambaram said the two 500 mw units for the Tarapore station will be fully indigenous in design, technology, engineering and equipment. They will be pressurised heavy water reactors and the cost will work out to Rs 4.5 crore per mw of installed capacity.

He admitted that the capital outlay for an atomic power station was about 20 per cent higher than that for a thermal power plant, but said the cost per unit of energy was far less. We have to look at the long-term advantage, he said.

The AEC chief denied that nuclear power stations were hazardous and pointed to the 1994 report of a Parliament panel headed by Jaswant Singh which had ruled that they had the safest and cleanest system of energy production.

Chidambaram described last weeks commissioning of Kamini, the 30-kv reactor based on Uranium 233 at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, as small but significant.

Stating that this was the only Uranium 233 based reactor operating in the world, the AEC chief said it will be utilised for neutron radiography of burnt fuel for the fast-breeder reactors.

He also announced that the first prototype fast-breeder reactor of 500 mw will be ready at Kalpakkam by the middle of the ninth five-year plan. That will mark a big step forward, he said.

Chidambaram was in Hyderabad for a day in connection with a symposium organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.