The Hindu : India to build 700 MWe reactors

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 11, 2004

National

National

India to build 700 MWe reactors

By T.S. Subramanian

A view of the Tarapur Atomic Power Project third and fourth reactors under construction. In the foreground is the third reactor. Each reactor will generate 540 MWe.

CHENNAI, JAN. 10. India will start building 700 MWe reactors of indigenous design in its quest to generate 20,000 MWe of nuclear electricity by 2020 A.D., according to Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission. They will be Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRS), which will use natural uranium as fuel, and heavy water as both moderator and coolant.

"From now onwards, all new reactors will have a capacity of 700 MWe each, for which we have evolved the design," Dr. Kakodkar told The Hindu on January 5 at Chennai.

These reactors' design "is essentially the same as the 540 MWe reactors which are under construction at Tarapur but it is an uprated version," he said. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPC) will build the 700 MWe reactors.

Now, the indigenous reactors in operation or under construction have a capacity of either 220 MWe or 540 MWe. All of them are PHWRs. Two other reactors of Russian design and using Russian equipment are coming up at Koodankulam in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. Each of these Russian reactors will generate 1,000 MWe. These Russian reactors are called Light Water Reactors (LWRs). They will use enriched uranium as fuel, and ordinary water as both coolant and moderator.

According to Dr. Kakodkar, the construction of two reactors of 540 MWe capacity at Tarapur, Maharashtra, was progressing "much earlier than the original schedule." The building of the fourth reactor, which was to attain criticality by October 2005, was sprinting ahead. It would reach criticality late this year or early 2005. The third reactor would follow about eight months later.

These two indigenous reactors are coming up adjacent to the two LWRs built by the General Electric, U.S.A. These two American reactors began commercially generating electricity in October 1969 and each generates 160 MWe now.

The construction of indigenous Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, 55 km from Chennai was speeding ahead. This PFBR will generate 500 MWe. On August 18, 2003, began the excavation of the earth for constructing about nine to ten buildings necessary for this massive reactor. These huge buildings will come up on the beachhead facing the waters of the Bay of Bengal. Already, mountains of earth have been excavated. For the concrete foundation of these buildings will reach down to a depth of about 18 metres.

Dr. Kakodkar said: "Our zero date for the PFBR construction really starts from the first pour of the concrete. We are preparing for reaching that milestone." The PFBR is being built by a newly floated company called Bharatiya Nahikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI). The engineering design and technical expertise for BHAVINI has been drawn from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam. The NPC provide BHAVINI with project management to enable PFBR construction on time. The PFBR is estimated to cost Rs. 3,492 crores and it will start generating electricity in 2010.

The PFBR has been designed by the IGCAR headed by S.B. Bhoje. The IGCAR is already operating a Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam, which is the forerunner of the PFBR.

The AEC chairman said that several sites had been studied for constructing more PHWRs, LWRs and breeder reactors to reach 20,000 MWe of nuclear energy by 2020. Some were existing sites where reactors were operational. Dr. Kakodkar declined to name the new sites, saying it would be too early to do so. "We have to go to the Government and get its approval first," he said.

There are 14 reactors operating in the country now and they generate 2770 MWe. Eight more are under construction. They include two PHWRs of 540 MWe each at Tarapur, two PHWRs of 220 MWe each at Kaiga in Karnataka, two PHWRs of 220 MWe at Rawatbhatta in Rajasthan, and two Russian units of 1,000 MWe each at Koodankulam. The capacity of these eight units total 3,960 MWe.

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