K Srinivasan
FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech this year, has announced Government support for research and development (R&D) of small modular reactors (SMR) to increase the share of nuclear power in India’s energy basket. “Nuclear energy is expected to form a significant part of the energy mix for Viksit Bharat.
Towards that pursuit, our Government will partner with the private sector to set up Bharat Small Modular Reactors and research and develop newer technologies for nuclear energy,” she said, and added: “The R&D funding announced in the interim Budget will be made available for this sector.“ The Union Budget allocates a total of Rs 24,969 crore ($2.983 billion) to the Department of Atomic Energy.
The country has an installed capacity is 8.1 gigawatts (GW) with 24 nuclear reactors that include 23 operable nuclear reactors providing some 7,425 Mwe(Megawatts) of generating capacity. State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is the only institution permitted to operate civil nuclear reactors in India. It will be adding 18 nuclear reactors by 2031–32, taking the total nuclear power capacity to 22.4 GW which will help generate an additional 13.8 GW of electricity. Another public sector behemoth, NTPC, is developing two nuclear plants in collaboration with the NPCIL. Simultaneously, it is talking to companies in the United States, Russia and France (world leaders in nuclear energy) to make SMRs in India. At the moment, seven units are under construction, including both In dian and Russian-designed units plus one fast-breeder reactor.
Inspired by the FM
Sanjiv Goenka of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group was quick off the mark and announced that his group would be looking at setting up SMRs in the near future. In a long conversation with CNBC-TV18, he said, “We are very inspired by the Finance Minister’s talk on the modular nuclear plants, obviously that is more futuristic, but it is something that we are looking at very keenly. We are still waiting for the Government announcements on the actual policy. It’s the intent of allowing the private sector that’s been announced. So once the policy is announced, then we will actually formulate our entry into this whole space. The Group is a major player in the utility business with power and distribution networks in Kolkata, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
The Niti Aayog has been urging the Government to look at small reactors more seriously. “Private sector being permitted is a big new opening,” says former DRDO chairman VK Saraswat who has been a long-time Member (Science and Technology) at Niti Aayog and has consistently lobbied for the Government to move in this direction. He said: “I am very happy to see the Government has accepted the further development of small reactors since atomic energy has a very low carbon footprint and offers an assured base power supply.”
Niti Aayog report
In fact, the Aayog has for quite some time been pushing for the Government to take this route. The think-tank, in a report titled ‘The Role of Small Modular Reactors in Energy Transition’, had asked for the Government to create a matrix for low-cost finance, green finance and getting nuclear power to have tax breaks and concessions. Some of the suggestions include green bonds to attract private sector investment in setting up small modular reactors (SMR).
While the move per se is welcome, many other issues will need attention before SMR can take off. For example, there will be a need for much tighter scrutiny and increased regulatory safeguards and how these nuclear plants will operate considering the spectrum will be wide and large with both the private in the public sectors involved in the process. Special care will have to be taken on how radioactive material will be handled. As The Hindu rightly pointed out, “The first-generation SMRs are expected to use low-enriched uranium in facilities assembled on-site with factory-made parts, to produce waste that can be handled using existing technologies and power that can be sold at economical rates. But the reactor will need frequent refuelling and will yield a consequential amount of plutonium; both outcomes will stress proliferation resistance.’’
USC power plants
This Budget also saw the Finance Minister announcing support for the ultra-supercritical thermal power plants. While not exactly green, they are certainly one step better than thermal power plants. Ultrasupercritical (USC) power plants require less coal per megawatt-hour, leading to lower emissions (including carbon dioxide and mercury), higher efficiency and lower fuel costs per megawatt. But it can only be a stopgap as India transitions to a green energy mode.
