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“Additional uranium fuel from overseas suppliers
has significantly increased the plant load factor
in our atomic power stations,” former Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC) chairman Anil Kakodkar told IANS.
Russia, France and Canada have resumed supply
of nuclear fuel, while the US is providing fuel
for the Tarapur (Maharashtra) plant under an earlier
agreement.
After the nuclear accords with the NSG and the
US, India plans to generate about 20,000 MW nuclear
power by 2020. Of this, indigenous heavy water
reactors will contribute 10,000 MW and plutonium-based
reactors 2,000 MW. Around 8,000 MW will be generated
through reactors being set up by overseas firms,
officials said.
The overseas supplies have pushed up capacity
by around 15 percent in the existing 18 nuclear
plants, which are now operating at an average
of 65-70 percent of their capacity. Earlier, they
were functioning at an average of 50-55 percent.
For instance, the 200-MW second unit of the
Rajasthan Atomic Power Station started operating
to near capacity after going critical with additional
fuel for its pressurised heavy water reactor.
“Similarly, the 220-MW fifth unit at Rajasthan
Atomic Power Station, which went critical Nov
24 and synchronised Dec 22, will also start operating
at full capacity soon,” said Kakodkar, who was
here recently to attend the Indian Science Congress.
Located 65 km from Kota at Rawatbhata in Chittorgarh
district of Rajasthan, the four other units in
the state were earlier operating below 50- 55
percent of their combined capacity of about 960
MW due to low fuel supply.
“The atomic power stations which are under international
safeguards will operate to near capacity once
the foreign suppliers ship the uranium
fuel under the agreements we have with Russia,
France, Canada, the US and other countries,” Kakodkar
stated. Following the agreements with these countries,
the state-run Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd
(NPCIL) has to enter into separate agreements
with nuclear companies in the respective countries
for fuel.
NPCIL, which operates 18 atomic power plants
in six states across the country with a combined
capacity of 4,340 MW, is slated to commission
four more units with a combined capacity of 2,440
MW by 2011.
Of the 22 nuclear reactors, 14 will be under
safeguards of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog
group. The remaining eight will be dedicated reactors
for military purposes.
“The reactors outside the safeguards have to
be filled with indigenous fuel. They are also
increasing their PLF (plant load factor) as production
has gone up substantially,” said Kakodkar, who
retired Nov 30.
As a result, the generation capacity factor at
the atomic power stations in Kalpakkam (Chennai),
Tarapur (Mumbai), Narora (Uttar Pradesh), Kakrapar
(Gujarat) and Kaiga (Karnataka) are better than
last year.
“The reactors under safeguards are being filled
by foreign suppliers under the agreement with
the NSG. They will also increase the capacity.
The plant load factor will happen progressively.
They don't happen overnight. But it will happen,
surely,” Kakodkar asserted.
The NSG, a group of 45 nuclearsupplier states
that regulates fuel exports, lifted a 34-year
trade embargo on India in September 2008 in the
run-up to the India-US civil nuclear agreement
Oct 10, 2008.
Asked about the prospects of an agreement on
the crucial reprocessing of spent fuel with the
US, Kakodkar, who had been involved in the negotiations
on the nuclear accord since August 2005, said
he was hopeful that it would be reached within
the timeline – by July this year.
“Though I am no longer in service and involved
in the discussions, I am sure the two sides will
sign the reprocessing pact once the fine print
is finalised. I am given to understand that the
next round of talks is due later this month or
February,” Kakodkar said, but declined to comment
on the differing perceptions in the wording of
the pact.
Under the 123 Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement
between India and the US, both sides are required
to conclude the reprocessing pact within a year
of the negotiations, which began in July 2009
but remained inconclusive even after subsequent
talks in Washington on the eve of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh’s summit with US President Barak
Obama Nov 24.
The hitch or the bone of contention has been
the “suspension of the right to reprocess in case
India conducts a nuclear test or indulges in activities
that may jeopardise the nuclear deal”.
(IANS)
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