Katerina Ioannou
Has an increasingly larger nuclear power program and expects to have 20,000MWe nucler capacity by 2020. It aims to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power int he future. Due to its weapons program, for 34 yrs it was excluded from the trade in nuclear. Due .to this India developed the thorium fuel cycle
In 2008 India produced 830 billion kWh, still it represented only 700kWh per capita for the year. Due to transmission losses final consumption was 591 billion kWh Coal -> 68% of electricity (limited reserves) Gas -> 8% Hydro - > 14% Shortage in fossil fuels
India's situation as a nuclear-armed country excluded it from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),[India could only join the NPT if it disarmed and joined as a Non Nuclear Weapons State, which is politically impossible].So this and the related lack of full-scope IAEA safeguards meant that India was isolated from world trade by the Nuclear Suppliers' Group. Operation Smiling Buddha, initiated by the prime minister Indira Gandhi 1972. The nuclear devise was designated Pokhran (Rajastan Dessert, north) 18 May 1974, Magnitude 8kt. Materials were provided by the canadenian goverment.
In September 2008 in recognition of the country's impeccable non-proliferation credentials and guarded against commercial or illicit export to other countries a waiver to the trade embargo was agreed. Up to that point Its power reactors to the mid 1990s had some of the world's lowest capacity factors, but rose impressively from 60% in 1995 to 85% in 2001-02. Then in 2008-10 the load factors dropped due to shortage of uranium fuel.
Hearvy Water Reactors (HWR) Are fission reactors that use heavy hydrogen as neutron moderators in order to be slowed down in the splitting of atoms Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) Is a nuclear power reactor, water coolant is kept under pressure in order to raise its boiling point enhancing neutron economy.
Light water Reactors (LWR) Are thermal reactors I n this cased the neutrons are absorbed, enriched uranium is needed Pressurized Light water Reactors (LWR) Water is pumped under high pressure in the reactor where it is heated by the enrgy generated. Hot water flows to steam generator, which spins an electric turbine
Fast neutron Reactor Is nuclear Reactor where fission chain reaction is carried out by fast neutron, achieved using fuel with quantities of fissile material. This reactor can reduce the total radiotoxicity of nuclear waste. Breeder Reactor can burn more natural uranium and produce less waste. India uses fast and thermal breeder reactors
73,000 tonnes U as RAR (reasonable assured resources) 33,000 tonnes U as inferred resources Common mill in Jarkhand and processes 2090 tonnes/day.
First case: In 2009 RAPS-2 became the first Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) to be fuelled with imported uranium. It used natural fuel uranium pellets from TVEL Russia.cost $780mil for 10yrs supply In July 2010 the Minister for Science & Technology reported that India had received 868 tU from France, Russia & Kazakhstan in the year to date.
DAE's Nuclear Fuel Complex at Hyderabad undertakes refining and conversion of uranium, which is received as magnesium diuranate (yellowcake) and refined. The main 400 t/yr plant fabricates PHWR fuel (which is unenriched). A small (25 t/yr) fabrication plant makes fuel for the Tarapur BWRs from imported enriched (2.66% U-235) uranium. Depleted uranium oxide fuel pellets (from reprocessed uranium) and thorium oxide pellets are also made for PHWR fuel bundles.
Fuel fabrication: a new 500 t/yr PHWR fuel plant at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, to serve the larger new reactors. Each 700 MWe reactor is said to need 125 t/yr of fuel. Reprocessing compirises of the extraction of uranium and plutonium, independent of each other, and other minor elements. It is the chemical separation from the fission products. India uses the standard method of PUREX ( P lutonium and U ranium R ecovery by Ex traction) . This is liquid -liquid extraction method used to reprocess used nuclear fuel. In 2011 capacity was understood to be 200 t/yr at Tarapur, 100 t/yr at Kalpakkam and 30 t/yr at Trombay, total 330 t/yr, all related to the indigenous PHWR program.
India has RAR of 319,000 tonnes of thorium- approximately 14% of the world total. Goal is to further advance in the thorium cycle. Stage 1: PHWRs fuelled by natural uranium & light water reactors to produce plutonium Stage 2: fast neutron reactors burnthe plutonium to breed U-233 from thorium. Around the core there will beuranium and thorium, hence further plutonium is produced as well as the U-233 Stage 3: Advanced Heavy Water Reactors (AHWRs) burn the U-233
Thorium uranium silicate http://www.thorium.tv/en/thorite/thorite.php
Thorium fuel when compared with uranium: Rubbia* states a tonne of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tonnes of uranium, or 3,500,000 tonnes of coal Three times more abundant than uranium Thorium produces 10 to 10,000 times less long- lived radioactive waste; Thorium comes out of the ground as a 100% pure, usable isotope, which does not require enrichment, whereas natural uranium contains only 0.7% fissionable U-235; Thorium cannot sustain a nuclear chain reaction without priming, so fission stops by default.
High level Vitrification: Process of transformation into glass.Vitrified waste is stored in a specially designed Solid Storage Surveillance Facility (SSSF) for about 30 years prior to its disposal in deep geological formation.(crystalline rock near Kalpakkam) Joule Melter Technology is in progress at BARC. In Joule heating an electric current is passed through a material, in this case glass. The internal resistance of the material causes the electric currents to be dissipated as heat. Melt temperature in JHMs is 1150ºC . A facility for the immobilisation of waste in a cement matrix has been commissioned at Kalpakkam.
its desire to be recognised as the dominant power in the region; its increasing concern with China's expanding nuclear weapons and missile delivery programs; and its concern about Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons capability
India to establish new nuclear regulator The Indian government has announced that it will legislate to set up a new independent and autonomous Nuclear Regulatory Authority of India that will subsume the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), which currently comes under the Atomic Energy Commission and has been criticized for lack of independence. It is responsible for the regulation and licensing of all nuclear facilities and their safety, and carries authority conferred by the Atomic Energy Act for radiation safety and by the Factories Act for industrial safety in nuclear plants. However, it is not an independent statutory authority, and its major 1995 report on a safety assessment of DAE's plants and facilities was reportedly shelved by the AEC. The government has now said that that previous safety assessments of Indian plants would be made public. While NPCIL is an active participant in the programs of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), the government has affirmed its desire for IAEA's operational safety review team (OSART) to help with future nuclear industry safety reviews and audits. WNN 19/4/11. India
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