Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India after thermal,hydroelectric and renewable sources of electricity.

[1] As of 2010, India has 20 nuclear reactors in operation in six nuclear power plants, generating 4,780 MW[2] while 5 other plants are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 2,720 MW.[3] India's nuclear power industry is undergoing rapid expansion with plans to increase nuclear power output to 64,000 MW by 2032.[4] The country is involved in the development of nuclear fusion reactors through its participation in the ITERproject and is a global leader in the development of thorium-based fast breeder reactors.[5] India's domestic uranium reserves are small and the country is dependent on uranium imports to fuel its nuclear power industry. Since early 1990s, Russia has been a major supplier of nuclear fuel to India.[6] Due to dwindling domestic uranium reserves,[7] electricity generation from nuclear power in India declined by 12.83% from 2006 to 2008.[8] Following a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group in September 2008 which allowed it to commence international nuclear trade,[9] India has signed bilateral deals on civilian nuclear energy technology cooperation with several other countries, including France,[10] the United States, [11] the United Kingdom,[12] Canada.[13] and South Korea.[14] India has also uranium supply agreements with Russia,[15][16] Mongolia,[17] Kazakhstan,[18] Argentina[19] andNamibia.[20] An Indian private company won a uranium exploration contract inNiger.[21] India now envisages to increase the contribution of nuclear power to overall electricity generation capacity from 4.2% to 9% within 25 years.[22] In 2010, India's installed nuclear power generation capacity will increase to 6,000 MW.[23] As of 2009, India stands 9th in the world in terms of number of operational nuclear power reactors. Indigenous atomic reactors include TAPS-3, and -4, both of which are 540 MW reactors.[24] India's US$717 million fast breeder reactor project is expected to be operational by 2010.[25] Following the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, many are questioning the mass roll-out of new plants in India, including the World Bank, the Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, and the former head of the country's nuclear regulatory body, A. Gopalakrishnan. The large Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project is the focus of concern and it has attracted many protests.[26]

Contents [hide]
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1 Nuclear Power Growth in India 1.1 New Uranium Deposits In Andhra Pradesh 1.2 Nuclear power plants 2 Accidents 3 Anti-nuclear protests 4 References

Nuclear Power Growth in India

The Indian nuclear power industry is expected to undergo a significant expansion in the coming years thanks in part to the passing of the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement. This agreement will allow India to carry out trade of nuclear fuel and technologies with other countries and significantly enhance its power generation capacity.[27] When the agreement goes through, India is expected to generate an additional 25,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020, bringing total estimated nuclear power generation to 45,000 MW.[28] India has already been using imported enriched uranium for light-water reactors that are currently under IAEA safeguards, but it has developed other aspects of thenuclear fuel cycle to support its reactors. Development of select technologies has been strongly affected by limited imports. Use of heavy water reactors has been particularly attractive for the nation because it allows Uranium to be burnt with little to no enrichment capabilities. India has also done a great amount of work in the development of a thorium centered fuel cycle. While Uranium deposits in the nation are limited (see next paragraph) there are much greater reserves of thorium and it could provide hundreds of times the energy with the same mass of fuel. The fact that thorium can theoretically be utilized in heavy water reactors has tied the development of the two. A prototype reactor that would burn Uranium-Plutonium fuel while irradiating a thorium blanket is under construction at the Madras/Kalpakkam Atomic Power Station. Uranium used for the weapons program has been separate from the power program, using Uranium from indigenous reserves. This domestic reserve of 80,000 to 112,000 tons of uranium (approx 1% of global uranium reserves) is large enough to supply all of India's commercial and military reactors as well as supply all the needs of India's nuclear weapons arsenal. Currently, India's nuclear power reactors consume, at most, 478 metric tonnes of uranium per year.[29] Even if India were quadruple its nuclear power output (and reactor base) to 20GW by 2020, nuclear power generation would only consume 2000 metric tonnes of

uranium per annum. Based on India's known commercially viable reserves of 80,000 to 112,000 tons of uranium, this represents a 40 to 50 years uranium supply for India's nuclear power reactors (note with reprocessing and breeder reactor technology, this supply could be stretched out many times over). Furthermore, the uranium requirements of India's Nuclear Arsenal are only a fifteenth (1/15) of that required for power generation (approx. 32 tonnes), meaning that India's domestic fissile material supply is more than enough to meet all needs for it strategic nuclear arsenal. Therefore, India has sufficient uranium resources to meet its strategic and power requirements for the foreseeable future.[29]

New Uranium Deposits In Andhra Pradesh

Large deposits of natural uranium, which promises to be one of the top 20 of the world's reserves, have been found in the Tummalapalle belt in the southern part of the Kadapa basin in Andhra Pradesh in March 2011. The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) of India, which explores uranium in the country, has so far discovered 44,000 tonnes of natural uranium (U3O8) in just 15 km of the 160-km long belt.[30]

Nuclear power plants

Currently, twenty nuclear power reactors produce 4,780.00 MW (2.9% of total installed base).
[31][32]

Power station Operator Kaiga Kakrapar Kalpakkam Narora NPCIL NPCIL NPCIL NPCIL

State Karnataka Gujarat Tamil Nadu

Type PHWR PHWR PHWR

Units Total capacity (MW) 220 x 4 880 220 x 2 440 220 x 2 440 220 x 2 440 100 x 1 200 x 1 1180 220 x 4 160 x 2 1400 540 x 2

Uttar Pradesh PHWR

Rawatbhata

NPCIL

Rajasthan

PHWR

Tarapur

NPCIL

Maharashtra BWR (PHWR)

Total The projects under construction are:[33][citation needed] Power station Operator Kudankulam NPCIL Kalpakkam Kakrapar Rawatbhata Banswara State Type

20

4780

Units

Total capacity (MW)

Tamil Nadu VVER-1000 1000 x 2 2000 500 x 1 500 700 x 2 1400 700 x 2 1400 700 x 2 1400 9 6700

BHAVINI Tamil Nadu PFBR NPCIL NPCIL NPCIL Gujarat Rajasthan Rajasthan PHWR PHWR PHWR Total

Accidents
Main article: Nuclear accidents by country See also: Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents Several nuclear accidents have occurred in India:[34] Nuclear power plant accidents in India[35][36] Cost (in millions 2006 US$)

Date

Location

Description

4 May 1987 10 September 1989

Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam refueling accident Kalpakkam, Tamil that ruptures the reactor core, resulting in a two-year 300 Nadu, India shutdown. Tarapur, Operators at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station find that the 78 Maharashtra, India reactor had been leaking radioactive iodine at more than 700 times normal levels. Repairs to the reactor take more

than a year. 13 May 1992 31 March 1993 2 February 1995 Tarapur, A malfunctioning tube causes the Tarapur Atomic Power Maharashtra, India Station to release 12 curies of radioactivity. 2

The Narora Atomic Power Station suffers a fire at two of its Bulandshahr, Uttar steam turbine blades, no damage to the reactor. All major 220 Pradesh, India cables burnt. Kota, Rajasthan, India The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station leaks radioactive helium and heavy water into theRana Pratap Sagar dam, necessitating a two-year shutdown for repairs. 280

Almost 100 kg radioactive sodium at a fast breeder reactor 22 October Kalpakkam, Tamil leaks into a purification cabin, ruining a number of valves 30 2002 Nadu, India and operating systems. It is estimated that before the accident at Tarapur, lack of proper maintenance exposed more than 3000 Indian personnel to "very high" and "hazardous" radiation levels. Researchers at the American University calculated at least 124 "hazardous incidents" at nuclear plants in India between 1993 and 1995.[34]

Anti-nuclear protests
Environmentalists, local farmers and fishermen have been protesting for months over the planned six-reactor nuclear power complex on the plains of Jaitapur, 420 km south of Mumbai. If built, it would be one of the world's largest nuclear power complexes. Protests have escalated in the wake of Japan's Fukushima I nuclear accidents. During two days of violent rallies in April 2011, a local man was killed and dozens were injured.[37] Following the Fukushima disaster, many are questioning the mass roll-out of new plants in India, including the World Bank, the former Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, and the former head of the country's nuclear regulatory body, A. Gopalakrishnan. The massive Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project is the focus of concern - "931 hectares of farmland will be needed to build the reactors, land that is now home to 10,000 people, their mango orchards, cashew trees and rice fields". Fishermen in the region say their livelihoods will be wiped out.[38]

Classifications
Nuclear Reactors are classified by several methods; a brief outline of these classification schemes is provided.

Classification by type of nuclear reaction

Nuclear fission. All commercial power reactors are based on nuclear fission. They generally use uranium and its productplutonium as nuclear fuel, though a thorium fuel

cycle is also possible. Fission reactors can be divided roughly into two classes, depending on the energy of the neutrons that sustain the fission chain reaction: Thermal reactors use slowed or thermal neutrons. Almost all current reactors are of this type. These contain neutron moderator materials that slow neutrons until their neutron temperature is thermalized, that is, until their kinetic energyapproaches the average kinetic energy of the surrounding particles. Thermal neutrons have a far higher cross section (probability) of fissioning the fissilenuclei uranium-235, plutonium239, and plutonium-241, and a relatively lower probability of neutron capture by uranium-238 (U-238) compared to the faster neutrons that originally result from fission, allowing use of low-enriched uranium or even natural uranium fuel. The moderator is often also the coolant, usually water under high pressure to increase the boiling point. These are surrounded by a reactor vessel, instrumentation to monitor and control the reactor, radiation shielding, and a containment building.

Fast neutron reactors use fast neutrons to cause fission in their fuel. They do not have a neutron moderator, and use less-moderating coolants. Maintaining a chain reaction requires the fuel to be more highly enriched in fissile material (about 20% or more) due to the relatively lower probability of fission versus capture by U-238. Fast reactors have the potential to produce less transuranicwaste because all actinides are fissionable with fast neutrons,[15] but they are more difficult to build and more expensive to operate. Overall, fast reactors are less common than thermal reactors in most applications. Some early power stations were fast reactors, as are some Russian naval propulsion units. Construction of prototypes is continuing (see fast breeder or generation IV reactors).

Nuclear fusion. Fusion power is an experimental technology, generally withhydrogen as fuel. While not suitable for power production, Farnsworth-Hirsch fusors are used to produce neutron radiation.

Classification by moderator material

Used by thermal reactors:

Graphite moderated reactors Water moderated reactors

Heavy water reactors

Light water moderated reactors (LWRs). Light water reactors use ordinary water to moderate and cool the reactors. When at operating temperature, if the temperature of the water increases, its density drops, and fewer neutrons passing through it are slowed enough to trigger further reactions. Thatnegative feedback stabilizes the

reaction rate. Graphite and heavy water reactors tend to be more thoroughly thermalised than light water reactors. Due to the extra thermalization, these types can use natural uranium/unenriched fuel. Light element moderated reactors. These reactors are moderated by lithium or beryllium.

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are moderated by a light elements such as lithium or beryllium, which are constituents of the coolant/fuel matrix salts LiF and BeF2.

Liquid metal cooled reactors, such as one whose coolant is a mixture of Lead and Bismuth, may use BeO as a moderator.

Organically moderated reactors (OMR) use biphenyl and terphenyl as moderator and coolant.

Classification by coolant

In thermal nuclear reactors (LWRs in specific), the coolant acts as a moderator that must slow down the neutrons before they can be efficiently absorbed by the fuel.

Water cooled reactor. There are 104 operating reactors in the United States. Of these, 69 are pressurized water reactors (PWR), and 35 are boiling water reactors (BWR).[16]

Pressurized water reactor (PWR) A primary characteristic of PWRs is a pressurizer, a specialized pressure vessel. Most commercial PWRs and naval reactors use pressurizers. During normal operation, a pressurizer is partially filled with water, and a steam bubble is maintained above it by heating the water with submerged heaters. During normal operation, the pressurizer is connected to the primary reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and the pressurizer "bubble" provides an expansion space for changes in water volume in the reactor. This arrangement also provides a means of pressure control for the reactor by increasing or decreasing the steam pressure in the pressurizer using the pressurizer heaters. Pressurised heavy water reactors are a subset of pressurized water reactors, sharing the use of a pressurized, isolated heat transport loop, but

using heavy water as coolant and moderator for the greater neutron economies it offers.

Boiling water reactor (BWR) BWRs are characterized by boiling water around the fuel rods in the lower portion of a primary reactor pressure vessel. A boiling water reactor uses235U, enriched as uranium dioxide, as its fuel. The fuel is assembled into rods that are submerged in water and housed in a steel vessel. The nuclear fission causes the water to boil, generating steam. This steam flows through pipes into turbines. The turbines are driven by the steam, and this process generates electricity.[17] During normal operation, pressure is controlled by the amount of steam flowing from the reactor pressure vessel to the turbine.

Pool-type reactor

Liquid metal cooled reactor. Since water is a moderator, it cannot be used as a coolant in a fast reactor. Liquid metal coolants have included sodium, NaK, lead,lead-bismuth eutectic, and in early reactors, mercury.

Sodium-cooled fast reactor Lead-cooled fast reactor

Gas cooled reactors are cooled by a circulating inert gas, often helium in hightemperature designs, while carbon dioxide has been used in past British and French nuclear power plants. Nitrogen has also been used.[citation needed]Utilization of the heat varies, depending on the reactor. Some reactors run hot enough that the gas can directly power a gas turbine. Older designs usually run the gas through a heat exchanger to make steam for a steam turbine. Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) are cooled by circulating a molten salt, typically a eutectic mixture of fluoride salts, such as FLiBe. In a typical MSR, the coolant is also used as a matrix in which the fissile material is dissolved.

Classification by generation

Generation I reactor Generation II reactor (most current nuclear power plants) Generation III reactor (evolutionary improvements of existing designs) Generation IV reactor (technologies still under development)

The "Gen IV"-term was dubbed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for developing new plant types in 2000.[18] In 2003, the French Commissariat l'nergie Atomique (CEA) was the first to refer to Gen II types in Nucleonics Week; .[19] First mentioning

of Gen III was also in 2000 in conjunction with the launch of theGeneration IV International Forum (GIF) plans.

Classification by phase of fuel

Solid fueled Fluid fueled

Aqueous homogeneous reactor Molten salt reactor

Gas fueled (theoretical)

Classification by use

Electricity

Nuclear power plants Nuclear marine propulsion Various proposed forms of rocket propulsion Desalination Heat for domestic and industrial heating Hydrogen production for use in a hydrogen economy

Propulsion, see nuclear propulsion

Other uses of heat

Production reactors for transmutation of elements Breeder reactors are capable of producing more fissile material than they consume during the fission chain reaction (by converting fertile U-238 to Pu-239, or Th-232 to U-233). Thus, a uranium breeder reactor, once running, can be re-fueled with natural or even depleted uranium, and a thorium breeder reactor can be re-fueled with thorium; however, an initial stock of fissile material is required.[20]

Creating various radioactive isotopes, such as americium for use in smoke detectors, and cobalt-60, molybdenum-99 and others, used for imaging and medical treatment.

Production of materials for nuclear weapons such as weapons-gradeplutonium

Providing a source of neutron radiation (for example with the pulsed Godiva device) and positron radiation[clarification needed] (e.g. neutron activation analysisand potassium-argon dating[clarification needed]) Research reactor: Typically reactors used for research and training, materials testing, or the production of radioisotopes for medicine and industry. These are much smaller than power reactors or those propelling ships, and many are on university campuses. There

are about 280 such reactors operating, in 56 countries. Some operate with high-enriched uranium fuel, and international efforts are underway to substitute low-enriched fuel.[21]