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India designs new version of AHWR for thorium utilisation http://www.sakaaltimes.com/2009/09/16195318/India-designs-new-version-of-A.html PTI Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 AT 7:09 PM Tags: Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, uranium, Anil Kakodkar Close... MUMBAI: India has designed a new version of Advanced Heavy Water Reactor which will use low enriched uranium along with thorium as fuel, chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar announced today in Vienna. "A new version of AHWR named Advanced Heavy Water REactor-Low Enriched Uranium (AHWR-LEU) that uses low enriched uranium along with thorium as fuel has been designed recently," Kakodkar said at the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference. The reactor has a significantly lower requirement of mined uranium per unit energy produced as compared to most of the current generation thermal reactors, Kakodkar said. "This version can also meet the requirement of medium sized reactors in countries with small grids while meeting the requirements of next generation systems," Kakodkar said indicating that India was ready for export of such reactors in the near future. "While we strongly advocate recycle option, AHWR-LEU would also compete very favourably even in once through mode of fuel cycle (where spent fuel is stored without reprocessing)," he said adding that the Department of Atomic energy has circulated a brochure of AHWR-LEU at the Conference for the benefit of potential customers. The already designed and developed 300 MWe AHWR by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, which is expected to start production soon, is mainly a thorium-fuelled reactor with several advanced passive safety features, Kakodkar said. AHWR has high level of fault tolerance and provides for a much greater immunity even from inside threat. These features therefore, offer enhanced intrinsic proliferation resistant characteristics and high security strength, Kakodkar said. The safety features in its design would enable meeting next generation safety requirements such as three days grace period for operator response, elimination of the need for exclusion zone beyond the plant boundary, hundred year design life and high level of fault tolerance, he said. The reactor is manageable with modest industrial infrastructure within the reach of developing countries. Also, for the same amount of energy produced, the quantity of long- lived minor actinides generated is nearly half of that produced in current generation Light Water Reactors. "Importantly, high level of radioactivity in the fissile and fertile materials recovered from the spent fuel of AHWR and their isotopic composition preclude the use of these materials for nuclear weapons," he said. Kakodkar emphasised the need for global attention on radioactive waste disposal issue. While India considers recycle option backed up by immobilisation of residual waste in inert matrices as a proven technological option for safe geological disposal, there is perhaps a need to develop partition and transmutation technologies, Kakodkar said. "This will reduce the radioactive half life of the waste to a level wherein most of the radioactivity is lost within a practical time frame comparable with life span of institutions that are required to manage them," he said. "Clearly this necessitates intense research and development. Given the level of understanding and development that we have reached today, it seems to me that this is a realisable goal," he said. Highlighting India as one of the few countries in the world with experience in the ageing management of nuclear power plants, he told the conference that recently the Indian nuclear engineers have completed the Enmasse Feeder Replacement (EMFR) for the unit 2 of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station with a highest degree of safety. "This complex and technologically advanced project was carried out with entirely indigenously developed technology," he said. Announcing that India's indigenous programme is set to accelerate, Kakodkar said "India looks forward to mutually beneficial two-way nuclear cooperation with other members of IAEA."After the last year's intense diplomatic activities, currently we are in the process of reformulating our plans for the larger scale programme implementation taking advantage of new possibilities that are emerging with the various inter-governmental cooperation," he said. As the Director General of IAEA Mohamed Elbaradei will be leaving office after 12 years of leadership, Kakodkar said his contribution to the agency was immense. "Through his (El Baradei) tireless efforts, the IAEA has been able to meet the many challenges before and apart from being the chief navigator of the Agency, he has also been a friend, philosopher and guide to its members states at all times," Kakodkar added. INDIATuesday, June 16, 2009 19:56 IST http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nuke-dealmovingsatisfactorilykakodkar_1265502 Kolkata: After becoming operational, the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is moving "satisfactorily" with the government now negotiating with nuclear vendors, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Tuesday. _____________________________________________________________ US nuclear mission to visit India 6 Jan 2009, 0011 hrs IST, Shalini Singh, TNN New Delhi - The Americans are coming. India is to receive its first commercial nuclear mission after the signing of its historic nuclear deal with the US on October 11, 2008 in Washington The intent of this visit is to establish an advantage in the projected $150 billion business potential with India. It is learnt that the US India Business Council (USIBC) and NEI is bringing the largest trade mission ever to visit India over the next few days. While details of the delegations agenda while in India are still under wraps, it is expected that it will meet with senior Indian government officials, the leaders of India's top public-sector undertakings, and senior executive counterparts from Indian companies. The mission includes over 50 senior US commercial nuclear executives representing more than 30 of the world's leading commercial nuclear companies including General Electric, Westinghouse, Bechtel Nuclear, The Shaw Group, Babcock &Wilcox, Black & Veatch, CH2M Hill, Uranium One, Thorium Power, and USEC, among others. The Indo-US nuke deal was historic, marking the end of 34 years of US sanctions on nuclear trade with India, as well as a turning point in the bilateral relationship of these two democracies. The landmark deal also unleashes billions of dollars of investment between India and the West. According to the CII, the agreement could open up around $27 billion in investments in 18-20 nuclear plants over the next 15 years, while lobby group Imagindia Institute has said the overall economic benefits accruing to India's economy as a result of nuclear trade could touch $500 billion by 2030. According to a Reuters report, the deal is expected to double nuclear power's share in India's electricity supply to up to 7% in the next two decades. With nuclear fuel in short supply, India's nuclear power plants are running at 55% of their capacity of about 4,000 megawatts. India's electricity supply, about 15% short of demand in peak hours is also expected to get a boost, but any new nuclear power plant may take a decade to be completed, leaving the country dependent of coal and liquid fuels. Formed in 1975 under the aegis of the US Chamber of Commerce, USIBC is a business advocacy organization representing 300 of the largest US companies investing in India, joined by global Indian companies, seeking deeper US-India commercial ties. The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is the policy organisation of the nuclear energy and technologies industry that seeks to ensure the formation of policies promoting the beneficial uses of nuclear energy and technologies in the US and around the world. According to the USIBC, the US commercial nuclear industry leads the world in size, performance, innovation, and engineering worldwide. The US is the largest generator of electric power in the world with 27% of the world's total installed capacity and nearly double the number of reactors as France. India committed to developing thorium reactors: NPCIL chief 03 December 2008 India is committed to the three-stage nuclear power development programme involving the use of pressurized heavy water reactors, the fast breeder reactors and the thorium reactors, according to Nuclear Power Corporation chairman and managing director S K Jain. While the recent nuclear power deals have opened up a plethora of opportunities for the Indian industry in the field of nuclear power, much will still remain in the state domain, Jain said in a paper released at the recently concluded annual conference of the Indian Nuclear Society. He said while the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) has identified some PHWRs to be put in civilian domain, some are not. These would feed the subsequent development, the fast reactors, the interconnecting fuel cycle, that means the reprocessing plants and then when you go to the third stage the thorium reactors and the related fuel cycle, he added. The DAE has reaffirmed its commitment to thorium fuel cycle, proposing to construct a dozen indigenously-developed nuclear power reactors. These units will be supplemented by imported conventional reactors, he said. ''This is still a technology in evolution and because we want to evolve the technology to a level of commercial robustness of global competitive level, we want to be able to do this on our own and so we need to protect this development from external vulnerabilities and so it is outside the civilian domain,'' Jain said. NPCIL will start site work next year for 12 indigenously-developed reactors, including eight pressurized heavy water reactors of 700 MWe each, three 500 MWe fast breeder reactors (FBRs) and one 300 MWe advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR), as part of the 11th plan (2007-12) programme, Jain said. This will take forward India's long-standing commitment to the thorium fuel cycle, notwithstanding the opening up of trade in uranium and conventional nuclear technology, he said. The eight PHWRs were supposed to have been in the last five year plan, but constraints on uranium mining in India delayed them and set back the overall schedule, Jain said. "India is now focusing on capacity addition through indigenization" with progressively higher local content for imported designs, up to 80 per cent, he said. NPCIL, Jain said, plans to construct 25-30 light water reactors of at least 1000 MWe by 2030, and is currently identifying coastal sites for the first of these, both 1000 and 1650 MWe types. Long term, the AEC envisages its fast reactor programme being 30 to 40 times bigger than the present PHWR programme, which has some 4.4 GWe operating or under construction and 5.6 GWe planned. This 40 GWe of imported LWR multiplied to 400 GWe via FBR synergy would complement 200-250 GWe based on the indigenous programme of PHWR-FBR-AHWR. Thus, AEC expects developing reactors of about 500 to 600 GWe over the next 50 years. ''This programme which is not a part of the civilian domain and that programme is not going to be small. That programme is going to be large because the ultimate energy independence for the country would come about through the three stage nuclear power programme. This programme has to be autonomous since there is parallel elsewhere and there is no other solution either,'' he said. We are talking about four more FBRs to follow immediately after PFBR. We are talking about a fast breeder programme which may well be 30-40 times larger than PHWR programme and a good part of that we would have to keep outside the civil domain till we are sure about a synchronized working of the reprocessing plant and the reactor plant with commercial efficiency and assurance, he added. India has a flourishing and largely indigenous nuclear power program and expects to have 20,000 MWe nuclear capacity on line by 2020. It aims to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power by 2050. Because India is outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its weapons program, it has been for 34 years largely excluded from trade in nuclear plant or materials, which has hampered its development of civil nuclear energy. Due to these trade bans and lack of indigenous uranium, India has uniquely been developing a nuclear fuel cycle to exploit its reserves of thorium. From 2008, foreign technology and fuel are expected to boost India's nuclear power plans considerably. India has a vision of becoming a world leader in nuclear technology due to its expertise in fast reactors and thorium fuel cycle. Thorium cycle development The long-term goal of India's nuclear program is to develop an advanced heavy-water thorium cycle.This first employs the PHWRs fuelled by natural uranium, and light water reactors, to produce plutonium. Stage 2 uses fast neutron reactors burning the plutonium to breed U-233 from thorium. The blanket around the core will have uranium as well as thorium, so that further plutonium (ideally high-fissile Pu) is produced as well as the U-233. Then in stage 3, Advanced Heavy Water Reactors (AHWRs) burn the U-233 and this plutonium with thorium, getting about two thirds of their power from the thorium. In 2002 the regulatory authority issued approval to start construction of a 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam and this is now under construction by BHAVINI. The unit is expected to be operating in 2010, fuelled with uranium-plutonium oxide (the reactor-grade Pu being from its existing PHWRs). It will have a blanket with thorium and uranium to breed fissile U-233 and plutonium respectively. This will take India's ambitious thorium program to stage 2, and set the scene for eventual full utilisation of the country's abundant thorium to fuel reactors. Four more such fast reactors have been announced for construction by 2020. Initial FBRs will be have mixed oxide fuel but these will be followed by metallic-fuelled ones to enable shorter doubling time. India has six reactors under construction and expected to be completed by 2010. This includes two large Russian reactors and a large prototype fast breeder reactor as part of its strategy to develop a fuel cycle which can utilise thorium. Further units are planned. Ten further units are planned, and plans for more - including western and Russian designs - are taking shape following the lifting of trade restrictions. (November 2008) India has a flourishing and largely indigenous nuclear power program and expects to have 20,000 MWe nuclear capacity on line by 2020. It aims to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power by 2050. Because India is outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its weapons program, it has been for 34 years largely excluded from trade in nuclear plant or materials, which has hampered its development of civil nuclear energy. Due to these trade bans and lack of indigenous uranium, India has uniquely been developing a nuclear fuel cycle to exploit its reserves of thorium. From 2008, foreign technology and fuel are expected to boost India's nuclear power plans considerably. India has a vision of becoming a world leader in nuclear technology due to its expertise in fast reactors and thorium fuel cycle. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Tuesday, Dec 04, 2007 HYDERABAD: Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has advised nuclear scientists to work with perseverance for generating nuclear power through thorium route. “That will be the eventual answer for meeting our needs from clean sources,” he said. Replying to a question on the nuclear deal with the US after delivering the keynote address at the annual Google India Conference here on Monday, he said: "When political leaders are busy in debating about the treaty, my advice to the nuclear scientists would be to design and develop thorium-based nuclear reactor and operationalise it within the next five years. Simultaneously, he said, work had to be done on generating large quantity of power through solar and wind energy" In India, both Kakrapar-1 and -2 units are loaded with 500 kg of thorium fuel in order to improve their operation when newly-started. Kakrapar-1 was the first reactor in the world to use thorium, rather than depleted uranium, to achieve power flattening across the reactor core. In 1995, Kakrapar-1 achieved about 300 days of full power operation and Kakrapar-2 about 100 days utilizing thorium fuel. The use of thorium-based fuel was planned in Kaiga-1 and -2 and Rajasthan-3 and -4 (Rawatbhata) reactors. With about six times more thorium than uranium, India has made utilisation of thorium for large-scale energy production a major goal in its nuclear power program, utilizing a three-stage concept: Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs, elsewhere known as CANDUs) fueled by natural uranium, plus light water reactors, produce plutonium. Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) use this plutonium-based fuel to breed U-233 from thorium. The blanket around the core will have uranium as well as thorium, so that further plutonium (ideally high-fissile Pu) is produced as well as the U-233. Advanced Heavy Water Reactors burn the U-233 and this plutonium with thorium, getting about 75% of their power from the thorium. The spent fuel will then be reprocessed to recover fissile materials for recycling. This Indian program has moved from aiming to be sustained simply with thorium to one "driven" with the addition of further fissile uranium and plutonium, to give greater efficiency. Source: World Nuclear Association
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