India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

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Sanatanan
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Sanatanan »

^^^
Reference: Slide 20 in http://www.nuceng.ca/br_space/2015-09_4 ... eactor.pdf
I think "coolant channel replacement campaign" means replacing all items including the Pressure Tube Assembly (including the Pressure Tube and its associated components), inside the Calandria Tube from all the channels of the reactor, with new parts.
Piping (Feeder Pipes) may not have to be changed.
Perhaps the fuel bundles, which would be removed prior to removal of the old channels, can be reused depending on their damage-free/defect-free condition and fitness for reuse.
If the coolant channel replacement programme is pre-envisaged, then prior action would perhaps be taken to manufacture all the new parts and keep them ready for the replacement programme.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Austin »

Fifth reactor at India's Kudankulam NPP to be launched in 2024, sixth — in 2025
ST. PETERSBURG, June 2. /TASS/. Commissioning of the fifth and sixth power units of the Indian Kudankulam nuclear power plant (NPP) is slated for 2024 and 2025, President of the Atomstroyexport (affiliated in Rosatom) Group of Companies Valery Limarenko told TASS on Friday, reaffirming that the agreement on the construction of these two reactors was signed on June 1 in the format of the SPIEF-2017.

"Overall generating capacity of the two reactors is up to 2 gigawatts. The fifth reactor will be commissioned in 2024, while the sixth reactor - in 2025," he said.


In his words, Rosatom (Russian Atomic Energy State Corporation) hopes for closer cooperation with Indian companies in the process of the third stage at the Kudankulam NPP.

Touching upon details, Limarenko said that the power units of the Kudankulam NPP's third stage differ from the previous ones by the localization of equipment in India. The project envisages the supplies of "the nuclear island" and turbine island with total worth about $4 bln.


All the Kudankulam NPP's reactors are identical under their design project, which is based on the Atomstroyexport's VVER-1000 project (water-cooled water-moderated nuclear power unit) with the capacity of 1000 megawatt and fully complies with the Russia, IAEA norm and rules and certified in compliance with the EUR (requirements of the European operators club).

The Kudankulam NPP construction is carried out in compliance with the Russian-Indian agreement of November 20, 1988, and addendum of June 21, 1998. Russia's Atomstroyexport is the general contractor, while Atomenergoproekt - general designer.

The first nuclear power unit of the Kudankulam NPP was commissioned with assistance of Russian specialists in 2013. The second unit was transferred to India in October 2016 and construction of the third and fourth power units began. The Russian-Indian atomic energy development cooperation envisions construction of 12 power units in India, including from 4 to 8 reactors at the Kudankulam site.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Amber G. »

Did not see it posted here..significant news about Japan India Civil nuclear energy..
(This news on the heel of Russia/India announcement ... Good hard work in diplomacy by this government)
Japan ruling party pushes it through upper house - Diet endorses pact to export civil nuclear technology to India
...Wednesday endorsed the (so called) controversial Japan-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement that will allow the nation’s firms to export nuclear materials and technology to India for nonmilitary use.

The pact has been a source of contention at home and abroad because India is neither a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) nor of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Opposition lawmakers argue that the accord will damage the credibility of the NPT system and help India acquire nuclear technology and materials.

Signed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in November last year, the agreement passed a plenary session of the Upper House Wednesday with a vote of 151 to 87.

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito voted for the pact, while opposition forces including the Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party voted against it.

The agreement is set to take effect in early July.

<snip>
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Austin »

Kudankulam: Flagship of India-Russia cooperation
Monday, 12 June 2017 | Vineeta Pandey | in Edit

This is the first NPP in the world where the post-Fukushima safety enhancement requirements have been implemented. Besides, the reactor building can withstand an aircraft crash

One of the biggest take aways from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg recently was the signing of agreement for construction of the third stage of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) — Units V and VI. Civil nuclear cooperation remains an important aspect of India-Russia relationship and the Kudankulam NPP is flagship of the economic cooperation between the two countries. The agreement for construction of two new units once again confirms commitment of the two nations for further development of their economic cooperation. Russia will be constructing at least 12 power units in India.

Implemented with technical assistance from Russia — the general contractor is Atomstroyexport JSC, a subsidiary of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM) — along with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), the project envisages six Russian-designed power units with the safest light water reactor plants each of 1,000 MWt capacity. Unit I and II are already operational and construction work has begun on Units III and IV sites.

The importance of such large-scale project as Kudankulam NPP, located in Tamil-Nadu, for a dynamically growing Indian economy, is well recognised. Two power units of 1,000MWt capacity each with the reactor plant of VVER-1,000 type have already been supplying electricity to the Indian national grid and they are expected to significantly improve power supply in the south region. The NPP has already generated more than 13 million units of electricity and the turbogenerator was operated for more than 10,000 hours. Thus, the installed capacity of the Indian NPPs reached 6,780 MWt. The electricity tariff for the power generated by Kudankulam NPP is one of the most efficient rates in India, ie Rs4.10. Besides, it has created new working places for the Indian engineers and local personnel.

Since nuclear plants are always away from public glare, very few know about the Kudankulam NPP and its safety standards. Both NPCIL and ROSATOM have claimed that Kudankulam NPP is one of the safest plants in the world and it could have survived a Fukushima-like situation where in 2011 an earthquake followed by tsunami triggered one of the major nuclear disasters in recent years. However, geologists and environmentalist from time to time have raised concerns on the impact of the NPP in the region, particularly its safety from tsunami and volcanic eruptions and its effect on marine life.

To allay concerns, NPCIL and ROSATOM have asserted, the Kudankulam NPP belongs to the group of advanced light water reactors of the third-plus generation and today its two operating units are of the highest safety standards. It is protected against earthquake, tsunami, tornado, hurricanes and other natural calamities and explosion. It is claimed that the reactor building can even withstand an aircraft crash. In fact, this is the first NPP in the world where post-Fukushima safety enhancement requirements have already been implemented and are being operated successfully. Besides, the plant can withstand any anticipated operational occurrences and human mistake factor.

According to ROSATOM, after the accident at Fukushima NPP, in 2011 all Russian NPPs underwent preliminary stress tests which involved Rostechnadzor inspectors, general public, international experts including those from the International Atomic Eenergy Agency and all inspections confirmed that Russian NPPs are safe. Prior to that, a team of World Association of Nuclear Operators visited the Kudankulam NPP site to study its safety features.

The essential feature of these Russian-designed power units is the availability of the most up-to-date diagnostic systems. These systems enable the NPP staff to operate in prevention mode — to react on the symptoms of deviations and to prevent any failure. The principal attribute of the design is implementation of the number of engineering solutions based on the “passive” principles in addition to conventional active safety systems.

According to the generally adopted criterion, such engineering solutions bring the project close at maximum to the parameters of the fourth generation projects in respect to its nuclear safety.

A four-barrier system is created between fuel and environment to prevent ionising radiation and radioactivity release — fuel matrix prevents fission product release under fuel cladding; Fuel cladding prevents fission product release into primary (main circulation circuit) coolant; main circulation circuit prevents fission product release into containment; containment system prevents fission product release into environment.

Besides, there are a number of advanced active and passive safety systems which ensure unprecedented design level of nuclear and ecological safety of the NPP. Double localising and protecting containment, passive heat removal system from reactor plant, core catcher, and closed industrial water intake for NPP are some of them. The plant is such made that during the anticipated operational occurrences, the passive heat removal system ensures cooling of the steam generator in automatic mode and where human participation is not required. This system does not require the energy supply.

NPP reactors are equipped with the core catchers which are provided with absorbing elements. This, in case of anticipated operational occurrences, prevents penetration of the core melting into the ground and environment. The industrial cooling seawater intake protected NPP against tsunami impact in 2004. This hydro technical structure serves as a cooling industrial seawater intake.

All points of the plant are located at the proper sea water level to avoid flood and black out. In fact, an analysis was conducted for the possibility of NPP to withstand the conditions similar to what happened at Fukushima and it was found that Kudankulam NPP is equipped with sufficient passive systems ensuring core cooling as well as restriction of radiation exposure even in case of long-term black out of electricity sources and failure of the water supply systems provided in the design. Another interesting aspect of the Kudankulam NPP project is that great care has been taken to preserve the biological diversity and reach local flora and fauna of the Mannar Bay. NPP cooling sea water intake structures are equipped with the special fish protecting facilities which preserve not only fish but also fish food — plankton.

The plant does not use any of the natural sources of the desalinated water. In view of the climatic conditions of the region and requirements of the developed agricultural sector, Kundakulam NPP project envisages sea water desalination plant which ensures all plant auxiliary loads.

The positive results achieved during the construction and operation of Kudankulam NPP gives Russians a strong background for further expanding and strengthening long-term, ‘time-tested cooperation’. The two sides are already successfully collaborating in scientific and technical sphere, in nuclear fuel cycle and localisation.

Besides, new areas are being identified for cooperation between Indian companies and the enterprises of ROSATOM for non energy application of nuclear power in production of mass-market products made of composite materials such as irradiation of the food products, localising production of carbon clothes in India, water treatment etc. Radiation technologies are known for destroying harmful microorganisms, bacteria and viruses in foods, and extending the shelf life of different products, including fruit, vegetables and crops.

Successful implementation of joint projects in the civil nuclear sphere has strengthened the India-Russia strategic privilege partnership and created a strong basis for its further development and more collaborations for which sky is the limit.

(The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer)
Gagan
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Gagan »

India should sign bilateral or even multilateral nuclear agreements with all NSG states except China and make the NSF redundant as far as nuclear trade is concerned.
Let China play hardball at the NSG and the UNSC, a side track to nix China must be made
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Gagan »

Guys watch this beautiful animation on the Kudankulam reactor construction by HCC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWMPTtWJFu0
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Vips »

PLASMA PHYSICIST P K KAW PASSES AWAY AT AHMEDABAD HOME.

Internationally recognised plasmaphysicist and pioneer of thermo-nuclear fusion in India, Prof P K Kaw died at his residence here.
He passed away on Monday after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 69.

Predhiman Krishan Kaw was the founder director of the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, and served as the Professor of Department of Science and Technology (DST) at the institute till he breathed his last.

The veteran scientist was honoured with Padma Shri in 1985 for his contribution in the field of producing energy through thermonuclear fusion.

"It is a huge and irreparable loss to the whole nation at large and IPR in particular. His contribution to plasma and fusion sciences, and his tireless efforts in nurturing the IPR since its inception will be remembered for long," said Dean(R&D), IPR, D Chenna Reddy.

According to the acting Chief Administrative Officer of IPR, P K Atrey, Kaw died after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home.

"He was the founder director of IPR and was serving as DST-Professor at the institute since 2013. He was very much active in research and other academic work at the institute till his end," said Atrey.

Prof Kaw is internationally knwon for his outstanding contribution to the physics of non-linear collective phenomena in plasmas with special emphasis on applications to thermonuclear fusion.

Born in January 1948, Kaw did his Ph.D in 1966 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He was just 18 when he achieved this academic milestone.After completing his Ph.D, Kaw went to Princeton University, USA as a post doctoral fellow and later joined the university as an assistant professor.

From 1971-75, Kaw was back in India as associate professor and then as professor at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.
In this period he extended the theory of parametric instabilities to magnetised plasmas. He also made important contributions to the theory of ionospheric irregularities in the equatorial electro jet. In the early 80s, Kaw and some of his former colleagues at PRL succeeded in persuading the DST to set up a major programme of plasma physics at PRL.

He returned to India in 1982 to direct this programme.The programme was separated from PRL in 1986 and became the DST-funded Institute for Plasma Research. Kaw was IPR's director between 1986 and 2012.

In 1996, IPR was taken over by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) with a considerable upscaling of the experimental efforts on thermonuclear fusion.

Under his leadership, the institute has carried out the design/fabrication of an advanced steady-state super conducting tokamak SST-1. This machine is undergoing commissioning trials now and is one of the first machine of this kind anywhere in the world.

Kaw also guided the the institute in spearheading India's case for participation in the prestigious ITER (fusion) experiment and is now the nodal domestic agency looking after this participation.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Ardeshir »

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but here it is:
India’s Nuclear Exceptionalism
In this Project on Managing the Atom Discussion Paper, Mansoor Ahmed examines India’s fissile material production capacity and the military potential of its unsafeguarded nuclear fuel cycle and energy program. The paper details India’s existing nuclear arsenal and its potential for expansion, with a focus on three key areas, namely:

The principles governing the separation of India’s civil and military fuel cycle facilities;

The size and weapons potential of India’s existing unsafeguarded stocks of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium and plutonium as well as its unsafeguarded stockpile of reactor-grade plutonium (maintained as a “strategic reserve” and as fuel for India’s fast breeder program); and

The fissile material production capacity of its reactor fleet, its existing and planned reprocessing facilities, and growing uranium enrichment program.

The paper suggests that India’s existing and future nuclear capability fuels regional security anxieties with Pakistan and impedes progress on the early conclusion of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. Dr. Ahmed offers policy recommendations for managing the South Asian fissile material conundrum and calls for a transparent and verifiable separation of civil and military fuel cycle and reactor programs in India and beyond.
The author estimates that India's current stockpile is sufficient for ~2200 to 2600 warheads, while Pakistan's is sufficient for 207. Paki author, so to be taken with a pinch of salt.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by ArjunPandit »

i think pakis are shooting in dark to see if something gets hit, esp with NSG plenary coming up. The silence from our side is enough to give them shalwar browning. If i have to put a random guess i would wildly put my money on no.s around 500. The threat of pakistani nukes and their increasing number has been out there in open. So assuming our intelligence info, we would have enough time to prepare the material. The question and which is more imp than time is do we have enough capability to produce Poo for such numbers.
Apologies but I dont know, may be the gurus can guide.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Supratik »

The numbers are ball park correct. Doesn't mean everything has been weaponized.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by ramana »

Arjun, NaMo visit is coming up. I wouldn't rule out the NPAyotollahs shooting from Paki shoulders.

Till recently the very same jokers were saying Pakistan had more nukes than India and now they have a Paki saying the reverse.

So zero credibility for these jokers.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Prem »

Let GP like person leak that only half of this material is weaponized and rest will be done by end of 2022. This must be done around 26 JUN as after this DC visit,India going to announce its intend to get out of IWT obligations and official notice of it will be sent to Pakistan and World Bank on 14th August.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Amber G. »

Construction officially begins on Kudankulam 3 and 4!
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by hanumadu »

Can't vouch for the veracity of the news, don't even know which channel it is but China says it will not oppose India's NSG entry.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Ashokk »

Nuclear reactor at Kalpakkam: World's envy, India's pride
YEKATERINBURG(Russia): Hidden from public, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal at Kalpakkam near Chennai, Indian nuclear scientists are in the final throes of starting a high-tech giant stove more than 15 years in the making.

This novel nuclear reactor is a kind of an 'akshaya patra', the mythical goblet with a never-ending supply of food.

The Department of Atomic Energy is getting ready to commission its ultra-modern indigenously designed and locally mastered fast-breeder reactor.

Experts say to make nuclear energy sustainable, one sure shot way is to make fast-breeder reactors mainstream.

Yukiya Amano, Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, says "fast reactors can help extract up to 70 per cent more energy than traditional reactors and are safer than traditional reactors while reducing long lived radioactive waste by several fold."

Easier said than done, since these reactors are also notoriously unstable and hence difficult to run reliably over long periods.

Called a 'Fast-Breeder Reactor', these are a special kind of nuclear reactors that generate more atomic fuel than they consume as they work.

India has been running an experimental facility called a Fast-Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) now for 27 years.

This is a small nuclear reactor a forerunner for the monster that India has constructed at Kalpakkam called the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). This will generate electricity commercially using the fast breeder route.

The world's only commercially operating fast breeder reactor is situated in the Ural Mountains of Russia at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, not far from Russia's fourth largest city Yekateringburg.

The Russians today are the global leaders in fast-breeder reactors having operated a fast-breeder reactor called BN 600 since 1980.

In 2016, the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom commercially commissioned its big brother -- the BN 800 fast breeder reactor.

This reactor produces about 800 MW of electricity and supplies it to the Ural region including the city of Yekateringburg.

While electricity that is produced is no different than any other electricity but the global community of atomic boffins is suitably chuffed about this unique achievement.

M Chudakov, now with the IAEA and well-known Russian fast breeder expert, calls "these reactors a bridge to the future as they can supply an almost unlimited supply of electricity".

All eyes are now on southern India where another global nuclear milestone is likely to be crossed this year.

Arun Kumar Bhaduri, Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam says, "fast breeder reactors are far safer than the current generation of nuclear plants and that all efforts are being made to kickstart within this year India's first commercial fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam."

Such is the interest in fast breeder reactors that more than 700 of the best atomic scientists from over 30 countries gathered at Yekateringburg in IAEA's conference on the 'next generation nuclear systems for sustainable development'. The scientists deliberated on how to make nuclear energy last for several centuries.

Given India's expertise, the co-chair of the conference was Suresh Chetal, one of the early pioneers of fast breeder reactors who helped tame fast breeder reactors for New Delhi when he was at the IGCAR.

Many countries have dabbled with fast breeder reactors and have given up, first off the block was the US but it gave up since inherently American governments have an allergic response with re-processing of nuclear waste in addition since USA has enough supplies of fissile material there is no hunger to maximally extract energy from uranium.

Japan and France both had robust programmes with fast breeder technology but repeated failure to safely handle liquid sodium forced them to more or less give up on fast reactors.

China is more than a decade behind India in trying to master this complex beast.


Russia invested heavily in developing the fast breeder technology but since it commissioned its first fast breeder reactor BN 600 in 1980 it suffered an economic meltdown as the former Soviet Union broke up and only recently Russia could gather enough resources to complete its upgraded fast breeder reactor BN 800.

Today the BN 800 is a flagship reactor that uses both uranium and plutonium as fuel and generates electricity that is supplied to the grid. A visit to the facility reveals a squeaky clean reactor where seasoned operators like Ivan Sidrow are also experimenters as they go about trying to design a bigger 1200 MW fast breeder reactor.

India's own PFBR is unique and rather different from the Russian fast breeder reactor though both use the same basic principle of physics.

Fast breeder reactors are called such not because they run faster but because the neutrons that sustain the atomic chain reaction travel at a much higher velocity than neutrons that help run the traditional atomic plants.

These are called breeders as they generate more fuel than they consume a fact hard to fathom since they seem to defy the laws of conservation of energy.

But a very unique quirk of elemental uranium makes this possible.

Nuclear reactors use a flavour of uranium called U-235 which unfortunately constitutes a minuscule quantity even in super purified uranium.

The larger component is what is called U-238 this flavour is the bulk but is essentially a waste product as the atomic reaction cannot be sustained by this elemental flavour.

In a fast breeder reactor the very special fast neutrons interact with the so called wasted uranium U-238 and converts it into a valuable resource. This is why fast breeders are akin to an 'akshaya patra'.

India's fast breeder reactor is even more unique as within it the country also deploys special rods of thorium which when they get exposed to or irradiated by fast neutrons they generate U-233 and a normally benign thorium turns into a valuable atomic material.

It is well known that India is very energy hungry and as economic growth takes place mega quantities of electricity will be required.

Unfortunately, nature has not been bountiful on India as the Indian land mass is not endowed with enough uranium but on the other hand the country has the world's second largest store of thorium.

Today the country in a well thought out strategy is mastering fast breeder reactors that can be an effective via media for utilising the vast thorium reserves.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by arun »

Amber G. wrote:Construction officially begins on Kudankulam 3 and 4!
The Hindu datelined June 30th reports first pour of concrete for Kudankulam 3 and 4 (?) took place on June 29th :
Though the ‘first pour of concrete’ was scheduled to be held before 11 a.m. on Thursday, the milestone event took place only at 3.48 p.m. as the KKNPP engineers here had to submit online a few more details required by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board that gave its nod for the ‘first pour of concrete’ on June 19 itself.
The Hindu datelined June 30th also reports KKNP 3 will start power generation in March 2023 while KKNP 4 will start generation in March 2024:
“The third reactor will start generating power within 69 months from today i.e., in March 2023; the fourth reactor will be ready for power generation one year later (March 2024),” said R. Banerjee, Director (Projects), NPCIL, told reporters.
From here:

Work begins on 3rd, 4th nuclear reactors at Kudankulam
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Karthik S »

Wiki has a section for church involvement, this is a first:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudankula ... conspiracy
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Uttam »

First Australian Uranium shipment is on its way to India
NEW DELHI: The first ever shipment of uranium from Australia -- having world's biggest reserves of yellow cake -- is on its way to India elevating strategic partnership to a new level, informed visiting foreign minister Julie Bishop.

She also suggested that China, pursuing an aggressive foreign policy, must adhere to international norms amid Sino-Indian border standoff.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Amber G. »

Some may find this interesting - When all is said and done nuclear construction reaches 25-year high.
Image
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by DrRatnadip »

http://m.timesofindia.com/city/mumbai/o ... 826686.cms

Operative spoke of CIA hand in 1966 crash: Report

MUMBAI: Was the CIA responsible for the crash of Air-India's Boeing 707, which was carrying the head of India's nuclear establishment? Homi Bhabha was flying to Vienna to attend a meeting when the plane crashed into Mont Blanc in the Swiss Alps.
On July 11, 2008, an alleged conversation between a journalist Gregory Douglas and a CIA officer Robert T Crowley, which was reproduced by a relatively unknown news media TBRNews.org suggested that the US intelligence agency had a role in the crash
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Gyan »

Amber G. wrote:Some may find this interesting - When all is said and done nuclear construction reaches 25-year high.
Image

The chart is of not of nuclear "construction" but only nuclear "generation". Also note the red in the last few columns, which shows that Japanese nuclear plants are still in-operative. There is no indication that nuclear "construction boom" will reach the hey days of 1970s-1980s. Lot of US & European plants will start getting phased out after 10-15 years. The new addition is mainly in China and on smaller scale in India, Middle East, other smaller nations. USA & Japanese nuclear plant manufactures are in problems, France has hit technical and cost issues with 3+ gen. Only Russia, China, India, South Korea seem to be cruising smoothly with their older designs of 3 gen.
kit
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by kit »

Ardeshir wrote:Not sure if this has been discussed before, but here it is:
India’s Nuclear Exceptionalism
In this Project on Managing the Atom Discussion Paper, Mansoor Ahmed examines India’s fissile material production capacity and the military potential of its unsafeguarded nuclear fuel cycle and energy program. The paper details India’s existing nuclear arsenal and its potential for expansion, with a focus on three key areas, namely:

The principles governing the separation of India’s civil and military fuel cycle facilities;

The size and weapons potential of India’s existing unsafeguarded stocks of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium and plutonium as well as its unsafeguarded stockpile of reactor-grade plutonium (maintained as a “strategic reserve” and as fuel for India’s fast breeder program); and

The fissile material production capacity of its reactor fleet, its existing and planned reprocessing facilities, and growing uranium enrichment program.

The paper suggests that India’s existing and future nuclear capability fuels regional security anxieties with Pakistan and impedes progress on the early conclusion of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. Dr. Ahmed offers policy recommendations for managing the South Asian fissile material conundrum and calls for a transparent and verifiable separation of civil and military fuel cycle and reactor programs in India and beyond.
The author estimates that India's current stockpile is sufficient for ~2200 to 2600 warheads, while Pakistan's is sufficient for 207. Paki author, so to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Not quite . India s unpublicised nuclear material holdings esp Plutonium is much larger though not weaponised . Estimated to grow much larger in the coming decade with more military reactors coming online.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by RoyG »

kit wrote:
Ardeshir wrote:Not sure if this has been discussed before, but here it is:
India’s Nuclear Exceptionalism


The author estimates that India's current stockpile is sufficient for ~2200 to 2600 warheads, while Pakistan's is sufficient for 207. Paki author, so to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Not quite . India s unpublicised nuclear material holdings esp Plutonium is much larger though not weaponised . Estimated to grow much larger in the coming decade with more military reactors coming online.
Reactor grade plutonium is harder to make into a bomb.
kit
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by kit »

RoyG wrote:
kit wrote:
Not quite . India s unpublicised nuclear material holdings esp Plutonium is much larger though not weaponised . Estimated to grow much larger in the coming decade with more military reactors coming online.
Reactor grade plutonium is harder to make into a bomb.

No . Its just that it will be low yield !
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Amber G. »

Gyan wrote:
Amber G. wrote:Some may find this interesting - When all is said and done nuclear construction reaches 25-year high.
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The chart is of not of nuclear "construction" but only nuclear "generation". ...
Sorry for careless use of word "construction" and thanks for pointing it out. Yes, what was intended by the graph is "generation" and even with all those Japanese reactors being off-line, total generation of power is now caught up (actually slightly more) with values before 2011. Of course, generation capacity is also higher than anytime before)
(Most of future generation will also come from new constructions mainly in China and India)
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Amber G. »

kit wrote:
RoyG wrote:
Reactor grade plutonium is harder to make into a bomb.

No . Its just that it will be low yield !
From what I know -
Not really, let me expand.
First - Making a Pu (any kind of Pu) bomb is much much harder than, say an U-235 bomb. And design of Pu (depending on percentage of Pu-240 in the mixture) is extremely tricky..small changes in percentage in Pu-240 in the mix can make nuclear bomb not (or extremely hard to make it) work with a design set for one particular type of material ((See note #1). Let me explain that in basic physics terms.


Both Pu-239 and Pu-241 are fissile .. all odd numbers are .. but even numbers of any isotopes are not good for bombs..

Pu-240 fissions spontaneously. And this neutron radiation will make the bomb fizzle.

In a way of speaking, for Pu bomb, it is not the % of Pu-239 but rather % Pu-240 which matters...

Generally weapons Pu is defined if Pu-240 < 7% . Higher % of Pu 240 is not suited for bombs (but can be used as fuel). So for weapons grade Pu, the irradiated fuel (in reactor) needs to be as low in Pu-240 as possible. So at present, weapons grade Pu is achieved by reprocessing the fuel after just about 3 months of use. (Such rapid cycles are impractical for civilian reactors so only carried out in mil reactors)

Note #1 - The presence of Pu-240 and its implication was a VERY hot topic at the time of Manhattan Project.. In fact a design (Gun-type - which worked for U-235) which worked in a small test did not work later. They finally figured it out that initial Pu they got did have very little Pu-240 but the one they got from Oak-ridge had higher Pu-240. This is why they spent lot of energy designing .. and actually testing the Pu-Bomb. ..(I wrote about this many years ago in old nuclear dhaga in brf).

(May be "NO" may be not correct word, but it is certainly extremely hard - and as far as I know almost impractical -
to make a make a bomb which does not use weapons grade Pu.)
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by srin »

What were the low yield devices that we tested in Pokhran-2 ? I always thought it was non weapons grade Pu ...
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Supratik »

Yes, designs with reactor grade plutonium were tested in 1998. Not sure if it means fissile isotopes were separated but common sense would suggest so. Ramana would know better.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Amber G. »

Supratik wrote:Yes, designs with reactor grade plutonium were tested in 1998. Not sure if it means fissile isotopes were separated but common sense would suggest so. Ramana would know better.
*ANY* such information, unless came out from official sources, really have virtually zero credibility IMO. Yes I have seen ddm (and some western sources) making wild guesses with NO basis. Any such information (like India-today once claimed) has to be taken with truck-load of salt.

Of course, those who really know will not say a word to deny it.

The idea that "it is reactor grade" is floated by NPT ayotolla's..to make hulla "even the civil power plants" needs to be monitored. I give it no credibility.

People who have actually worked designing Pu bombs (but now are professors, physicists) tell us, unlike U-235, for Pu's case it is NOT the Pu (or availability of kind of Pu need) is bottle neck, it is design of bomb.
(IOW India has enough Pu (of the right kind) - more than it will need.. bottle neck will be other components..

(An analogy - Many people worry about kind of fuel a car uses (does it need premium gasoline or regular or fuel economy) but suppose I want to design and manufacture a fighter-jet, I don't worry so much about kind of fuel the engine will need. Sure some may say use cheaper fuel ... .. but if I have a working design which works I will use reliable engine and worry more about other aspects of fighter-jet)

Please keep in mind, for Pu, (unlike U, where you need centrifuges etc), the fissile material is relatively much easier to get/ separate. IOW for U, it is much costlier to get "weapons grade" U, for Pu -- let the reactor run for right amount of time and take out the fuel to get the type of grade Pu you need.
***

Hope this helps.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Supratik »

IIRC, news was from multiple Indian sources.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by jayasimha »

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/printrelease. ... lid=170047

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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Special Service and Features
17-August-2017 10:23 IST

70 years of Independence
Special Feature – I-Day 2017


India’s Atomic Energy Programme



*Dr. M.R. Srinivasan

India entered the atomic age, more correctly the nuclear age, on 4th August 1956 when Apsara, India’s first nuclear reactor, went into operation. This reactor was designed and built by India with the nuclear fuel supplied from the United Kingdom under a lease agreement. Our second reactor for research purposes, CIRUS, was built with cooperation with Canada and went into operation in the early 1960’s. The research reactors were platforms for conducting research in neutron physics, studies in the behaviour of materials under neutron irradiation and for production of radio isotopes. The latter are very useful for diagnostics and treatment of various ailments, especially cancer, and also very useful in industrial applications, especially for the purpose of non-destructive testing.

Electricity production using nuclear energy commenced in October 1969 when the two reactors at Tarapur were put into service. The Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) was built by General Electric of USA and is now in its forty-eighth year of service. Tarapur supplies the lowest cost non-hydro electric power in the country. India’s second nuclear power station came up in Rajasthan, near Kota, the first unit of which went into operation in August, 1972. The first two units at Rajasthan were built in collaboration with Canada, who pioneered reactors that could use natural uranium as fuel. They, however, required heavy water, present in extremely small quantities in ordinary water and can be extracted through complex processes.

India’s third nuclear power station came up at Kalpakkam, near Chennai. This station was designed and built by India, on its own. All the material and equipment were produced in the country. This was a huge challenge as Indian industry at that time, had no experience in making complex equipment required for nuclear applications. Special materials like nuclear fuel, zirconium components and heavy water production required extensive work in the laboratories of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Pilot plants were built and later scaled up to industrial plants. Industry had to be trained in special manufacturing processes and novel quality testing procedures introduced. Thus, when the first unit of the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) started up in July 1983, India joined a small group of countries which could design and build nuclear power units on their own.

Our fourth nuclear power station came up at Narora, on the banks of river Ganga. This site has experienced earthquakes in the vicinity. So we evolved designs capable of withstanding any foreseeable earthquake that could visit the site. We also standardized the design of a 220 MW unit that could be built at a number of sites in the country. The first unit of Narora started up in October 1989. In the next twenty years, India built and commissioned eleven 220 MW units and two 540 MW units, all based on its own technology called ‘Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors’. To accomplish this task, India also built up a strong heavy water production capability and fuel production, including mining of uranium in Jharkhand. Indian industry was mobilized to produce the entire range of equipment and materials to support the nuclear power programme.

Since India was keen to augment the nuclear capacity rapidly, it entered into a collaboration with the former Soviet Union in 1988 to build two 1000 MW reactor power units using enriched uranium as fuel. Due to the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1990 and the economic difficulties India faced at the time, the Indo-Russian project was put on the back burner. In 1998, India and Russia decided to embark on this project, and work at site commenced in 2003. When the commissioning activities on the first unit were in progress, the accident in Fukushima, Japan, occurred in March 2011. This triggered a strong opposition to the project amongst people living in the neighborhood. It took considerable time and patient explaining to inform the public at large about the safety features at Kudankulam and also how the site conditions there were completely different from those at the Japanese site. The first unit at Kudankulam went into operation in 2014 and the second in 2016.

India now has twenty-one reactor units in service. The first unit at Rajasthan supplied by Canada has been out of service due to some equipment deficiencies. The other units with a total capacity of 6700 MW have been operating reliably. The plant load factor for the five years from 2011 to 2016 has been about 78%. The nuclear power units have been supplying power at Rs. 2 to Rs. 3.50 per kwh (Kilowatt hour). In fact the cost of power from Tarapur has been less than Rs. 1/kwh. For Kudankulam units 1 and 2, it is about Rs. 4 per kwh.

The cost of installing Indian designed and built nuclear power unit is about Rs. 16.5 crores/MW. For the Russian reactors, the cost is about Rs. 22 crores/MW. Since the fuelling cost of the Russian reactors is lower than those of the Indian reactors, both of them produce power at about Rs. 5/kwh. This cost, when escalated to the time horizon of 2023-24, will come to about Rs. 6.5 per kwh. Coal based power in regions far away from coalfields would cost more in the same time horizon. Solar power for recent projects costs about Rs. 2.5/kwh, but an expenditure of Rs. 2 /kwh is needed to connect the solar units to the grid system, taking the total cost to Rs. 4.5/kwh.

India signed cooperation agreements with the USA and France in 2008 and they provided for building nuclear power units designed in these countries to be set up in India. Negotiations have been going on from then on. However, the leading nuclear power plant builder in the US, namely Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy a few months ago. AREVA of France lost a lot of money on their nuclear fuel business following the Fukushima accident. The French government allocated the nuclear reactor business to their national electric utility, Electricite’ de France. There is considerable uncertainty, therefore, with regard to cooperation with USA and France.

Given this scenario, the Government of India decided to build ten India designed 700 MW Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors in June 2017. The Nuclear Power Corporation had scaled up the 540 MW size units to 700 MW and started work, two at Kakrapara (Units 3 and 4) and two at Rajasthan (Units 7 and 8). This is one of the biggest single commitments in nuclear power, after the Fukushima accident of 2011. This programme will provide Indian industry with sustained workload for a period of a decade and establish India firmly as an important player in this field.

Work has commenced on Units 3, 4, 5 and 6 at Kudankulam. Russia has offered to build six 1200 MW units at a second site to be identified by India. As a parallel activity, India has designed the ‘Indian Pressurised Water Reactor’ of 900 MW capacity, using enriched uranium as fuel. Work on two such units may be taken up soon, to be followed thereafter by series building. At Kalpakkam, the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor of 500 MW is in the process of commission. Two reactors of 600 MW of similar design may follow. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has completed the design of a 300 MW reactor called ‘Advanced Thermal Reactor’ which would use thorium. Our long term plans to use thorium depend on fast reactors and thorium based systems.

Not elaborated in this article are activities in the field of research, reprocessing of spent fuel, development of accelerators and so forth. The department of Atomic Energy has been actively engaged in supplying radio isotopes to hospital and industry, in the use of radiation technologies for preventing spoilage of marine foods, spices and for enhancing the shelf life of onions, mangoes and other food articles, as well as in sterilization of medical products.

We may thus foresee, in the decades ahead, nuclear energy making an important contribution as carbon-free energy, and nuclear technologies offering benign solutions in enhancing the quality of life of our people.

*****

*The author is Former Chairman and presently Member, Atomic Energy Commission.

Views expressed in the article are author’s personal.

(The feature has been contributed by PIB Chennai)
Last edited by ramana on 29 Sep 2017 02:21, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added bold to highlight ramana
Vips
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Vips »

'India Is Uranium Rich Country': Nuclear Chief Dr Sekhar Basu.

For a very long time one has only heard that India is country that is not blessed with indigenous uranium and that unless we import uranium there will be no energy independence. However, India's atomic chief Dr Sekhar Basu asserts that thanks to new explorations India is can now call itself a uranium-endowed country. NDTV visited the uranium processing plant to get this rare insight.

In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Dr Basu said that the development has helped improve uranium fuel supply to nuclear reactors in the country. "When I joined the atomic energy programme we were told India has just about 60,000 tons of mineable uranium. But today the quantity has grown by 4 to 5 times. Government is fully supporting us to make India uranium self-sufficient," Dr Basu said during a visit by NDTV to Jaduguda uranium mine, the oldest site in the country.

For a very long time these Indian-made nuclear reactors ran on very low efficiency. The reason being cited was that the uranium fuel was in short supply. In fact, the raison d'être of the Indo-US nuclear deal was to get access to imported uranium.

The locally mined uranium is supplied to generate electricity and also to power nuclear weapons capability.

India currently has 22 operating nuclear power plants which have an installed capacity of 6780 MW. Of these the two nuclear plants at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu are run on uranium imported from Russia.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by ramana »

Its really hand of Mahadev that W and AREVA went under.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Prem »

ramana wrote:Its really hand of Mahadev that W and AREVA went under.
Can't forget when Mahadev asked Chitargupt to do Dharm Karm of fat man in Senate. Known Uranium reserves now 240K tons and increasing.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by ramana »

Exactly.

And read Dr. M.R. Srinivasan article above on cost structure of electric power an the fuel supply type.
Also not eh milestone dates for the new technologies.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Prem »

ramana wrote:Exactly.

And read Dr. M.R. Srinivasan article above on cost structure of electric power an the fuel supply type.
Also not eh milestone dates for the new technologies.
My neighbor's nephew's barber's daughter in law's grandfather is his old buddy.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by ramana »

I know dur ka rishta.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by ShauryaT »

@Vips: You could have probably made that font change larger :)
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by SSridhar »

Vips wrote:'India Is Uranium Rich Country': Nuclear Chief Dr Sekhar Basu.. . . . For a very long time these Indian-made nuclear reactors ran on very low efficiency. The reason being cited was that the uranium fuel was in short supply. In fact, the raison d'être of the Indo-US nuclear deal was to get access to imported uranium.
Larry Pressler says, India-US nuclear agreement is an arms deal, says former US Senator
The Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement is more of an “arms deal”, but the focus of the bilateral partnership should be on “agriculture, technology and health care”, former US Senator Larry Pressler said on Thursday. “I would love to see peaceful use of nuclear energy, but I am worried that so far it (Indo-US nuke agreement) has mostly been an arms deal. It seems to me that much of the new agreement is a large arms sale to Indians,” Pressler said.

The former US Senator was speaking during the launch of his book ‘Unveiling Neighbours in Arms’.

Pressler claimed the then US president Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi was “largely an arms sale trip”.
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Re: India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011

Post by Prem »

Dr Bhabha with Einstein
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