India Nuclear News And Discussion

[GuruPrabhu]

No one except DAE (with 700MW PHWR) seems to know how to build plants faster, and on time.

Because they are not hampered by a Multi-Giga$$ Liability Bill. That is the irony -- liability became an issue only with American entry (not foreign, mind you, just American) into the field.

Russian entry, who are the only nuke country to have had a serious accident (3 Mile Island was nothing compared to Chernobyl), did not invoke the various DeshPremis into a liability frenzy.

By the way, "on time" is debatable.

[ashokpachori]

You wont find Medha Patkar types in this case....because the proceeds will end up with white skin.

Its no Narmada dam!

She has not participated in the Jaitapur protest which is in her own home region of Konkan

BTW here is timely help to bolster my post!

Environment ministry refuses to review clearance to Jaitapur plant

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... z19Vay6Os6

Despite Prima Facie evidence of her treacherous act (conected to foreign intelligence agency), the letter of which was forwarded by two parliamentarians to Man Mohan Singh, he never took any action

[vera_k]

No one except DAE (with 700MW PHWR) seems to know how to build plants faster, and on time.

Because they are not hampered by a Multi-Giga$$ Liability Bill. That is the irony -- liability became an issue only with American entry (not foreign, mind you, just American) into the field.

The liability bill is not an issue with Kudankulam, is it? That project has been going on for 12 years.

[vera_k]

8 years away . . . Jaitapur's first plant is expected to go critical in 2018. Should solve problems for lots of Mango men in Maharashtra

I don't think so. Even if the project runs on schedule, Maharashtra may not be able to afford the power. Maharashtra could buy a Jaitapur's worth of power from Gujarat in 2 years time, but it is unable to do it because of high transmission losses and subsidies. Same issue as what scotched the Dabhol project.

No takers for ‘pricey’ Gujarat’s power

The government had approached the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for sale of the surplus power, but they expressed their inability to buy power on grounds of deficient funds. They said the Gujarat government was selling them power at a premium and they were not in a position to pay for the same.

Most of the states have transmission losses running up to 30-35 per cent. Added to this is the high subsidy to the agriculture and rural sectors which account for another 30 per cent. As such, the recovery of the losses is passed to the remaining 35-40 per cent of the consumers.

Patel said that these things had raised the financial burden on these states and they had expressed their inability to pay the rates quoted by the Gujarat government.

[/quote]

[GuruPrabhu]

Kudankulam is a Russian problem. You can certainly compare it to NPCIL's 700 MW technology.

How would you like to define "On Time"? Based on some Babu prediction, or some technical measure?

I would suggest using Gigawattage/(months for construction). The denominator should exclude NGO Andolan time and funding related issues.

Given this ratio as a measure, can you back up your claim that "No one except DAE (with 700MW PHWR) seems to know how to build plants faster, and on time." Feel free to compare to French, Russian reactors etc.

You may recall that there is not much statistics on construction of 700MW PHWRs so you have to be bold in establishing the above claim.

[vera_k]

How would you like to define "On Time"? Based on some Babu prediction, or some technical measure?

I am looking at the reported slippages for Kudankulam and the Areva EPR.

[GuruPrabhu]

So? PHWR schedules have also slipped. What does that prove?

[vera_k]

PHWR schedules have not slipped, they were idling for want of uranium. It only proves that nuclear energy is not going to be available anytime soon. Maybe in 15 years, the big nuclear projects being handed out now will start coming online.

[GuruPrabhu]

PHWR schedules have not slipped, they were idling for want of uranium.

More ham and eggs. Your last claim was about construction schedule and now you've switched it to fuel supply. Indian PHWRs are *way* behind schedule. You can simply look it up rather than fixate on a conclusion and then run around circles adding non-information as evidence.

Allow me to employ a phrase thrown at me in the last day or two by worthies like Pratyush and CRamS: "Let's leave it at that"

[vera_k]

Where are you getting that PHWRs are behind schedule? As I said, some were built, but had to be idled for shortage of fuel. I am looking at this -

TAPS 3 criticality

Unit-3 of Tarapur Atomic Power Project (TAPP-3) attained its first criticality today, May 21, 2006. The achievement of criticality is a major milestone in the project completion process. It signifies the start of self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction in the reactor core. The criticality of Unit-3 comes about two months ahead of schedule.

[somnath]

The liability bill is not an issue with Kudankulam, is it? That project has been going on for 12 years

The Kudumkulum project predates 123 etc..Its covered under a different set of contracts and regulations, including international...The nuke liability law will not apply to 1 & 2 of Kudunkulum..

Maharashtra could buy a Jaitapur's worth of power from Gujarat in 2 years time, but it is unable to do it because of high transmission losses and subsidies. Same issue as what scotched the Dabhol project.

Not quite actually..The source of power generation has got little to do with transmission losses or subsidies - those are a function of the Discom's efficiency and political will repsectively..So you can well have power from Tarapur be delivered to customers @ a subsidy because the Maharashtra govt wants to..Of course, farther away the customer from the power generator, higher the transmission losses (cenetrus paribus), and there are variables around base load and peak load on different types of power sources - but they are moot here...

About Dabhol, the problem wasnt distribution losses (it is/was only a generating plant) or subsidy..The problem was really 2-fold - one, the concession given to Enron, with a 16% g'teed IRR (which meant Enron had a good motivation to keep capital costs as high as posisble!), and two, the choice of fuel (naphtha) to run the plant - both these variables jacked up the unit price of power to unaffordable levels..Plus all the allegations of bribery etc...

About the track record of Indian PHWRs, the record is quite mixed..Due to a combination of factors, and fuel availability has been one, but by no means the only one, construction and commissioning schedules have been regularly missed..In fact Manmohan Singh in his earlier avatars as Chie Economic Advisor and RBI governer and then Finance Minister has been quite critical of the performance of DAE/NPCIL in the civvie nuclear area...(Goerge Perkovich mentions it in his very fine book on India's nuke programme, and I read a recent article (cant dig it out now) recalling the same by a student of Perkovich...)

About Jaitapur, dont hold your breath on a 2018 commissioning. the project has still not achieved financial closure, commercial contracts (which is when we will see how the GOI tackles the complications on Liability) have not been signed..construction work is a long way off..By 2018, India would have probably added 25-30 Jaitapurs worth of capacity in coal and solar..

[GuruPrabhu]

Baap re Baap. Why not ask Google Chacha the right question, hain ji?

TAPP-3 is 540 MWe. You were talking about 700 MWe. Ham and Eggs, ham and eggs, ityadi, ityadi.

[vera_k]

^^^

It's the same design scaled up.

India's first PHWRs likely to be operational by 2015

The 700-MW PHWR is the latest state-of-the-art technology nuclear power reactor which has been designed by NPCIL by scaling up its 540 MW PHWRs (TAPS-3&4) that are under successful operation at Tarapur since 2005.

[GuruPrabhu]

Aha, now at least you have the right info! So, the first 700 MWe is *likely* to be operational by 2015. So, how do you know it is "On Time"? Plus, how do you know that the present schedule is faster than what other countries do?

Contrast this to your statement:

No one except DAE (with 700MW PHWR) seems to know how to build plants faster, and on time.

Pretty strong stuff, eh? "no one except DAE" knows how to do this stuff and even the DAE ain't done it yet. But yes sir, they are certainly "faster and on time"

Yes, nuke power is in very big trouble

Please have the last word and let's be done with it. I wonder if you will serve ham or eggs this time.

[btw, russian and french designs are also scale-ups of earlier efforts. Everyone does it like that onlee.]

[vera_k]

But considering projects under construction, the Russians and French are behind schedule while the DAE is not!

[somnath]

But considering projects under construction, the Russians and French are behind schedule while the DAE is not!

Thats not a claim even Dr Srikumar Bannerjee will make! DAE is behind schedule on a number of projects, including the prototype FBR (which has been delayed by close to a decade), the Kaiga 4, and some more...

[vera_k]

The PFBR is a prototype first of it's type reactor. As regards Kaiga 4 -

Poised for a leap

Kaiga-4 was built a few years ago but was unable to start production due to shortage of fuel. In fact the first three units of Kaiga were running at 70 per cent capacity due to shortage of indigenous fuel consequent on a ban on exports from supplier countries as India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

[somnath]

DAE currently has 5 major projects (>100 crores and above) underway:

1. Kaiga 3&4
2. Uranium ore processing mill
3. RAPPS 3&4
4. Kudunkulum
5. Prototype FBR

All these projects have had time over-runs at various points in time..Currently, 3 of them are running behind schedule..As recently as 2008, RAPP reported additional over-runs..While uranium availability has been one reason, but by no means the only one (it actually doesnt report that as an official reason for delays at all - refer to table 11.6 of the annual report of the Ministry of Programme Implementation - given below).

http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/mo ... 009-10.pdf
http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/FRWEB.pdf

[ShauryaT]

No intention to resurrect this debate, but for those who may be interested.
Strategic Sell Out : Indian-US Nuclear Deal (Hardcover) by P. K. Iyenger, A. N. Prasad

Book Summary of Strategic Sell Out : Indian-US Nuclear Deal

The controversial civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States fueled controversial civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States fueled controversy and opposition to in a way that no foreign policy issue has done in recent memory. This happened for the good reason that the country`s ``Janes-faced`` or dual-purpose nuclear energy programme is the jewel in the crown of the Indian state and spearheads the longstanding policy of government to make Indian an advanced scientific and technological power. The nuclear deal has come to be seen as undermining this national intent and ambition by substituting self-reliance with risky dependence on foreign Countries and Companies. The deal promised facilitation of trade and commerce in frontline nuclear technologies. But the only technology readily on offer is seen to be the light water reactor that are finding it difficult to be peddled elsewhere, including in their own countries, to their own people, because of the widespread concerns about nuclear accidents, radiation hazards, and environmental damage, a `la Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. The fact that India was unlikely easily to access other technologies after the enabling US law the so-called ``Hyde Act``, was legislated in December 2006 by the US Congress. This Act expressly forbids sale or transfer of any technology related to uranium enrichment, plutonium reprocessing, and heavy water production. Worse, even for this limited nuclear deal, Washington extracted some very onerous terms requiring, among other things, that India separate its hitherto integrated nuclear energy programme into its military and civilian components and erect ``firewalls`` between them thereby, at a stroke, destroying its cohension and the scheme of the best and most economical use of scarce human, financial, and material resources; agree to put the bulk of hte civilian-use reactors under international safeguards; and, to accept the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty strictures even though India is not a signatory and not bound by it terms. Most worryingly, however, is the Indian government`s acceptance of the no-testing condition as the basis for the deal. It amounts to India signing, de facto, the Comprohensive Test Ban Treaty strategically the worst thing the country can do at a time when further testing, particularly of the thermonuclear warheads and weapons is an urgent imperative, considering that the test of the fusion device in 1998 had fizzled out. Without more tests, India`s deterrent will lack credibility and its thermonuclear armaments will neither be reliable nor safe. This is intolerable from the point of view of national security. The four authors three of them stalwarts of the nuclear programme and the fourth, a highly regarded strategic expert - wrote extensively about these and other negatives of the nuclear deal. This is a compilation of their writings in newspapers and journals critical of the deal ands why it will turn out to be aliability.

[Saurabh_M]

I don't think so. Even if the project runs on schedule, Maharashtra may not be able to afford the power. Maharashtra could buy a Jaitapur's worth of power from Gujarat in 2 years time, but it is unable to do it because of high transmission losses and subsidies. Same issue as what scotched the Dabhol project.

Don't think so
I am sorry to say this so bluntly . . . but you are a lot out of the loop.
(1) It costs a lot to get power to Mumbai 24/7.
(2) There are transmission losses because there is very low generation in the state. If you have to get it from outside, then there will be losses.
(3) Who else is gonna buy it? Goa, Gujarat don't need it. Karnataka doesn't need so much more, Madhya Pradesh is quite underdeveloped so also no. Transmitting beyond that doesn't make sense
This plant is meant for Maharashtra. The Mumbai - Pune belt which will see hyper pace of development once the new airport comes up. Airport and resultant better rail and road development, which will lead to influx of industry in this area. Pune is also not too far from there.
Maharashtra lost out industry to Gujarat during last decade thanks majorly to Mr. Visalsrao "Incompetent" Deshmukh. Won't happen again.

[vera_k]

(1) It costs a lot to get power to Mumbai 24/7.

That's because of issues to do with Reliance, not a shortage of power.

Mumbai power crisis

(2) There are transmission losses because there is very low generation in the state. If you have to get it from outside, then there will be losses.

The losses are an euphemism for electricity theft. Actual transmission losses due to inefficient equipment are <5%.

(3) Who else is gonna buy it? Goa, Gujarat don't need it. Karnataka doesn't need so much more, Madhya Pradesh is quite underdeveloped so also no. Transmitting beyond that doesn't make sense

You probably know that most of Maharastra outside Mumbai does not get reliable electricity. Rural areas go without power for up to 11 hours. These people would need the surplus.

This plant is meant for Maharashtra. The Mumbai - Pune belt which will see hyper pace of development once the new airport comes up. Airport and resultant better rail and road development, which will lead to influx of industry in this area. Pune is also not too far from there.
Maharashtra lost out industry to Gujarat during last decade thanks majorly to Mr. Visalsrao "Incompetent" Deshmukh. Won't happen again.

Not arguing about the need for the plant. Just making a point that it is more than a decade away. This project will not solve Maharashtra's power supply woes, and other steps have to be taken for that.

[Prem]

An era comes to end.
50-Yr Old Research N-Reactor CIRUS Shut Down
http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?706959

India's 50-year-old research reactor CIRUS, the iconic symbol of the country's civil and military nuclear programme, was shut down permanently at midnight tonight in line with its commitment made under its civil nuclear deal with the US.CIRUS (Canada India Reactor Utility Services), refurbished in 2003, has been shut down permanently by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre(BARC) as per our commitment under Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement, BARC director R K Sinha told PTI.It played an important role in the development of the country's indigenous nuclear power programme and also in the first nuclear test in Pokhran in 1974 using the plutonium from its spent fuel as part of strategic programme of the Department of Atomic Energy.Supplied by Canada, CIRUS, which used the indigenous uranium fuel, has been fully utilised. It attained criticality (first nuclear chain reaction) on July 10, 1960."The scientists had worked out a way by which they were able to utilise the fuel fully before the reactor was shut down," Sinha said.Although it could have operated for few more years, the research reactor had to be shut down permanently because of India's commitment---purely a political one.

[krisna]

A symbol of another age, another India

A militarily weak, economically dependent country seen by the West as a Soviet ally nevertheless managed to get from Canada its most advanced reactor technology of the day. And this, only a few years after Nehru had steadfastly refused to export monazite sands from the coasts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to the US, which wanted the rare-earths rich sands to start its own thorium-based nuclear reactor programme. Nehru had banned the export of monazite saying that India would need it for its own industrial development. In fact, he did not give in even when the US Congress made supply of monazite a condition for sending India food grains to overcome a famine in that era of India’s ‘ship-to-mouth existence’ that threatened to leave millions of Indians dead. In the end, the US Congress gave in. Sixty years later, India is the only country in the world chasing, and anywhere close to, thorium-based nuclear nirvana, the final stage of the three-stage nuclear programme that Homi Bhabha designed for India in 1959.

Who made the Cirus ‘coup’ possible? Homi Bhabha, an internationally acknowledged cosmic ray physicist, was a man who moved in the company of the giants of the just-dawning age of quantum physics – with Paul Dirac for teacher, Wolfgang Pauli, Enrico Fermi and Niels Bohr among others for mentors and collaborators. His friendships, from his Cambridge days, with British and Canadian nuclear helmsmen enabled him to get what he wanted, on his terms.
Cirus was at the time among the most advanced nuclear reactors. Bhabha even got the Canadians to bear half the cost in the form of a grant. The 40 MW reactor cost a grand $14 million. To replace what we shut down would easily cost many times over today.
With Bhabha’s death, and especially after India’s 1974 nuclear bomb test, India lost access to Western nuclear technology and scientists, but it stood its ground on nuclear issues, especially concerning international nuclear regimes.

Wow!!

To get out of what was becoming a death-grip on the nuclear programme, Prime Minister Manmohan struck the ‘nuclear deal’ with former US President George Bush. But this time, an admittedly richer, stronger India nevertheless gave in to a number of conditions that the US imposed. The shutting down of Cirus — recently refurbished to extend life by 20 years — is testimony to how India has changed, from Nehru to Manmohan Singh.

Great article regarding the GOI and Dr Bhabha.

[Airavat]

Cirus shutting down on December 31 was necessary to open up the path for India to build a 40,000 MW nuclear power industry

[Sanatanan]

Politics of inertia by Bharat Karnad, Deccan Chronicle, January 2nd, 2011

Qoute from the article which I think is relevant in this thread:

. . . .

British Prime Minister David Cameron garnered contracts worth $8 billion, US President Barack Obama’s take was $10 billion worth of business and, by his own reckoning, 54,000 new jobs, French President Nicolas Sarkozy obtained Delhi’s commitment to buy nuclear reactors and stuff to the tune of $16 billion, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao managed to uphold the Beijing line, avert bad Press, and still take a $20 billion chunk of Indian largesse. And, a few days before Christmas, Russian President Dmitry Medyedev arrived, seeking gifts, and duly received an Indian promise of $35 billion for the flagging Russian defence industry as subsidy for the development of a “fifth generation fighter aircraft”.

The questions that come to mind are these: Can India buy friends and successes in the foreign policy field? Or, beef up its national security and strategic partnerships by slapdash purchase of armaments? There are good reasons for scepticism on these counts, even though Western experts have praised Dr Singh’s policies of capital imports to kickstart Western economies rather than using the funds for internal growth and infrastructure investments as most countries with a bulge in foreign exchange reserves would do.

In the event, the suspicion lingers that India’s efforts to firm up friendships in this manner is the lazy man’s alternative to the more difficult task of combining strategic visioning with creative and agile diplomacy backed by carefully sculpted military might — something apparently beyond the Indian government’s ken — and is perceived by the profit minded big powers as a means of separating a cash-rich fool from his money. That the Congress Party-led coalition prefers this foreign-military policy is evidence enough that having shot his bolt, as it were, with the civilian- nuclear cooperation deal with the United States in his first term, Dr Singh has for a long time now been bereft of fresh ideas.

. . . .

[vic]

India should invite South Korea to bid for nuclear reactor sites which are not being taken up expeditiously by their designated nations, to break the cartel which slowly seems to be forming against India

[somnath]

India should invite South Korea to bid for nuclear reactor sites which are not being taken up expeditiously by their designated nations, to break the cartel which slowly seems to be forming against India
India should invite South Korea to bid for nuclear reactor sites which are not being taken up expeditiously by their designated nations, to break the cartel which slowly seems to be forming against India

The Koreans are relativey new to the game...If the grizzled veterans (French, Russians, Americans) are being daunted by the liability law, its unlikely that the Koreans will venture out without those apprehensions..

[Pratyush]

^^^^

Don't be so sure about the SK being afraid of a few risks. They will take the risk if they think it will get them the appropriate results. So if the Invite is sent they will lap it up. Liability or no liability law.

Their past commercial activity suggests that they will act even if they don't have the required insurance coverage.

[vic]

The South Korean will be feeling left out while the Cartel is trying to act complacent. We need to shake things up a bit. At worse, we will still be in the same position

Simultaneously order massive additional amounts of Indian PHWR using foreign fuel, i.e. fallback No. 2

[vic]

The Koreans are relativey new to the game...If the grizzled veterans (French, Russians, Americans) are being daunted by the liability law, its unlikely that the Koreans will venture out without those apprehensions..

Are they 'daunted' or they pretending??

[Sanatanan]

PM to dedicate Tarapur nuke reprocessing unit next week
Business Standard, January 1, 2011


[quote]
Amidst controversy over the 10,000 Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would formally dedicate a reprocessing unit at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’s (Barc) Tarapur facility in Thane district.

The function is being organised by Barc during the PM’s visit to Mumbai slated for January 7. The plant, commissioned in October, would have an annual capacity of 100 tonnes to reprocess spent fuel.

The plant is for indigenous nuclear reactors and is not under any foreign safeguard agreement. The reprocessed spent fuel would be re-used as fuel and for medical and other purposes.

Currently, there are three reprocessing units, at Tarapur, Trombay (a suburb of this city) and Kalpakkam, near Chennai, with a total reprocessing capacity of 230 tonnes, none of which are under safeguard watch.

A Barc official told Business Standard, “As part of the commissioning process in October, the cold trial run of the plant has been started, with the use of inactive natural uranium-based fuel in place of spent fuel, which will follow later.”

The PM would also visit the Tarapur nuclear power plant. It has four units, with a combined capacity of 1,400 Mw.
[/quote]

I wish this plant all success.

[vera_k]

Anger against Jaitapur plant

Congress leaders from Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, where the Jaitapur nuclear plant is based, have begun to protest against the state government's repressive tactics to push through the project.

The buzz in Congress circles is that party chief Sonia Gandhi is upset with the environmental clearance given to the nuclear power plant and has asked party leaders to take corrective action.

[GuruPrabhu]

MMS, Sonia playing bad cop, good cop. NIMBYism is a global phenomenon. Folks are not taught the benefits to their economy but the NGO brigade is quick to teach them cooked up negatives.

[Saurabh_M]

This is very bad reporting.
While giving clearance to Jaitapur, Jairam Ramesh shut down mines operating in two districts and also cancelled any chances of future liscences. This was done to preserve the nature and eco tourism in the region. A good decision.
The main problem in Jaitapur is being created by mining lobby.

[somnath]

^^^ All large projects have vested interests lobbying for and against..This is espeically true in India as land is such a scarce commodity...Nothing particularly specific or conspiratorial about the Jaitapur nuke plant...Recall the fuss in Singur!

In case of a nuke plant, the lobbyists against always have the safety factor as a point to hit the project with..

[Pratyush]

^^^

Having said that, the Jaitpur plant is being singled out as being unsafe. What is it that the campaigners know about the design and safe running practices that the decision makers don't and are unable to understand about the design and safe running of the Nuke plants.

[somnath]

^^^ I dont know, however at the same time on balance it is good to have civil society activism on these issues...It keeps the decision-makers honest. Govt has no monopoly of wisdom, as long as people have a vote and not a veto (a la Singur), it is a good thing to have some of these controversies..

[Sanku]

After all the tamasha, no new plants are going to be online before 2025 minimum (forget whose fault it is), perhaps 2 best case.

And may be 4 by 2050. (of course I am assuming that Narendra Modi is not going to get a 15 year PM ship in this period, if he does there may be many more plants of Indian origin at suitable spots etc etc)

All this Nuke electricity as per current plan is pure opium for the middle class.

[rkirankr]

All this Nuke electricity as per current plan is pure opium for the middle class.

They did not even give the opium, just showed an image of it. Nuke powered electricity in every village my foot. Gobar gas would have done the job probably

[somnath]

Nuke powered electricity in every village my foot. Gobar gas would have done the job probably

The bigger issue with the nuke liability act (the big elephant according to me) is the fact that ownership of nuke power plants has been preserved for the public sector (as per the definition of the original Atomic energy Act). Which in turn means that every single dollar of investment will need to be public investment..Now GOI has only so many dollars (or rupees) to invest in any given period..Out of which, only so much can be devoted to one sector, ie, power..Out of which only so much can be spent on nuclear power..To me, the preservation of the status quo on ownership in the Act is a bigger folly than the liability provisions, which can be gotten around to conform to international norms....

The government has been floating various proposals to get around the issue - divest 49% equity in NPCIL to raise money, create a second (and even a third) nuke power utility (one in the air is sponsored by NTPC) where 49% equity is held by the pvt sector and so on...While the first option of divesting govt equity in NPCIL is feasible, it remains to be seen how many companies get attracted by a 49% stake in what is essentially a low-octane utility with the attendant uncertainties of nuclear energy...Add to all of this the fact that the capital costs of nuke power are variously estimated to be 2-3 times that of thermal power, and one can imagine the issues with plans built solely around public invstment..

The nuke deal was never about electricity, there were larger worthier goals - though somehow the johnies in govt sold it as such...

The controversy around the nuclear parks is therefore a bit premature..Fundamentally though it is good that they happen, because it is through a public inquisition process that a lot of the real deals come out in the open..

In case the govt is really interested in ramping up nuke electricity for some reason (maybe we can link it to climate change efforts and wangle carbon credit dollars out of it, who knows!), the first thing it should do is to amend the Atomic Energy Act to allow pvt sector participation in generation...That will create the necessary financial ballast to really ramp it up..