India to achieve self-sufficiency in uranium production by 2013: Kakodkar

By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 03 Aug. (asiantribune.com): India is expected to achieve self-sufficiency in uranium production to feed its existing nuclear power projects and proposed plants by 2013, the Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Sunday.

Dr. Kakodkar was here on the occasion of five years of the propellant reaction project at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research attaining criticality.
With the increasing production of the natural uranium 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 will rise to 70 to 75 per cent the next year, he said, addressing a press conference at Kalpakkam.

The capacity of the reactors would go up because the capacity of the mill at Jaduguda in Jharkhand, which converted natural uranium into yellow cake, had been augmented. The mill at Turamdih, also in Jharkhand, was producing the yellow cake to the expected level.. The expansion programme at Jaduguda is complete and the Turamdih expansion programme will be completed next year, he said.

Three new reactors — 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,” Dr. Kakodkar said.
Besides, exploration of uranium is underway at Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh and it is expected to go on stream by 2013. Exploration mining was going on at Gogi nears Gulbarga in Karnataka. Thus the shortage of natural uranium that led to a drop in the capacity factor of the reactors, would be overcome by 2013, he said.

New Heavy Water reactors

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) will take up construction of four new PHWRs of 700 MWe each, for which the Union government had given approval, Dr. Kakodkar said. India has already 15 Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors — PHWRs — that use natural uranium as fuel, and heavy water as coolant and moderator. India also has two Light Water Reactors that use enriched uranium as fuel, and light water as coolant and moderator.

Srikumar Banerjee, Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), said the successful development of the 80 MWe Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) at Kalpakkam, which used enriched uranium as fuel, ushered in the PWR technology in India. The experience gained in this project would 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, which only a few countries had developed. It had high strength at a high temperature, Dr. Banerjee said.

Russian role

Asked what is the Russians role in developing the PWR, Dr. Banerjee said the development of a technology like this occurred in stages, and the PWR at Kalpakkam had been operating from September 2006. “In doing so, we have used the Russians as consultants. As far as efforts in designing, developing and maintaining the reactor are concerned, they are entirely ours,” the BARC Director said.

S. Basu, Director, BARC Facilities at Kalpakkam, also asserted that “everything is totally indigenous” about the PWR developed at Kalpakkam. He said Arihant was a demonstration of India’s indigenous capability to build a nuclear-powered submarine, and it was a joint endeavour of the DAE, the Navy and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).