FOUR MORE NUCLEAR REACTORS - INDIA

As per the statement given by Indian Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar, India is expected to become self-sufficient in uranium production by 2013. He was also quoted that with the Jadugoda uranium mill in Jharkhand (which converted natural uranium into yellow cake) expanded and the proposed expansion of Turamdih mill expected by next year, uranium production would go up. It said uranium exploration was underway at Tummalapalle in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh and extraction was expected to begin by 2013. “We are also working to explore uranium at Gogi near Gulbarga in Karnataka,” he said and expressed the hope that a proposed project at Meghalaya.

With natural uranium production going up in India, the capacity factor of its nuclear power reactors, which is around 55 per cent now, will go up to 65 per cent by the end of this financial year (2009-2010) and it will go rise to 70 to 75 per cent by next yearAs production of Uranium will increase, India will be acquire capacity to fulfill the uranium needs for the existing nuclear plants,but also to maintain three more nuclear reactors, he mentioned that so there will be a establishment of nuclear reactors will be commissioned in a phased manner between 2009 and 2010 -two units at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS-5 and 6) and the fourth unit at Kaiga in Karnataka — would be commissioned “in a phased manner between this year and next year.

When come to the part of new projects he mentioned that The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was looking forward to the start of the construction of four PHWRs of 700 MWe each and this will happen once the uranium mines will come in handy.As per, increasing the capacity factor and also adding capacity Srikumar Banerjee, Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), said 80 MWe Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) at Kalpakkam was developed, which used enriched uranium as fuel, ushered in the PWR technology in India. This will help in the indigenous development of PWRs for large-scale electricity generation. The reactor pressure vessel used in this PWR was made of special steel and has high strength at a high temperature, which only a few countries had developed. (An identical PWR, built by BARC, forms the powerhouse of INS Arihant, India’s indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine).

He also quoted that designing, developing and maintaining the reactor is by INDIA with the consultant of Russians, and it is 100 per cent our reactor.