Is India equipped for nuclear energy?

Written by College of Energy

The recent discovery of uranium mine in Andhra Pradesh’s Tumalapalli has revealed 49,000 tonnes of uranium. It is envisaged that the total quantity of uranium can go up to 1.5 lakh tonnes, which would make it amongst the largest uranium mines in the world. The quantity discovered at Tumalapalli is sufficient to support 8,000 MW capacity for 40 years. The deposits at Tumalapalli have outnumbered the total reserves of 1.70 lakh tonnes found in both the mines located at Jharkhand. India has been procuring its uranium reserves from countries like France and Kazakhstan, but the recent discovery of uranium deposits has lowered the dependence on foreign supplies.

Nuclear energy is definitely one of the richest sources of energy, as it has the power to generate large-scale electricity. Over 16% of the world's electricity is generated from uranium in nuclear reactors. This amounts to about 2400 billion kwh each year. It comes from about 440 nuclear reactors with a total output capacity of about 370 000 megawatts (MWe) operating in 31 countries. Every 22 tones of uranium used avoids the emission of one million tones of carbon dioxide, relative to coal. When the electricity comes from coal, every kilowatt-hour of it results in about a kilogram of carbon dioxide being emitted.

The total amount of fuel used for operating the nuclear power stations globally is about 12,000 tones per year. About two thirds of this is treated as waste, while the rest is reprocessed to recover useful fuel material. The reprocessing of used fuel results is only about 3% of it being high-level radioactive waste (which is then incorporated into glass), with the balance being recycled as fresh fuel. Handling, storage and treatment of these radioactive wastes has been undertaken in many countries for several decades without incident. Nuclear power is the only energy-producing industry, which takes full responsibility for all its wastes and costs this into the product.

In spite of the nuclear energy development in India, certain flip sides too are encountered. Recently, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), reported in the Times of India, that the upcoming Jaitapur nuclear power plant has created an upheaval, as wrong reasons have been associated with it- nuclear power plant being set up near residential areas, agitation by farmers unwilling to give up land and allegations that the French reactor which is going to be installed has not been tested and will therefore expose high levels of radiation. Also, issues about profit mongering have been raised as people in Jaitapur have received a good compensation for land, resulting into a sense of jealousy amongst the others from the neighboring areas.

Nuclear energy is undoubtedly an important energy reserve, but various security concerns after the recent Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear disaster have been raised by the localities in India, fearing the nuclear power plant construction near their residences. Besides, many of the nuclear installations have aged with time and have serious problems. Considering this, is India fully ready to support Nuclear Energy?

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