Some nice analysis of reprocessing economy of the world.Much of the spent fuel piled up by 2030 will be in Asia. Japan, India, China and South Korea aim to emulate the main reprocessing centers in Europe and Russia. They see the technology as the key to a lucrative nuclear service industry as well as being one that is vital to their own energy security.
London: India and the UK have agreed on the text of a landmark civil nuclear deal and a formal pact may be signed within a week, Britain's Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson announced on Thursday.
"The civil nuclear deal text has been agreed to and it will be signed soon, may be within a week after ministerial approvals," Lord Mandelson told a joint press conference with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma after the hour-long meeting of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee at the Lancaster House.
He said the two sides have also agreed to open up a number of professional services like legal, accountancy and banking between the two countries
Representatives of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) visited the Kaiga Atomic Power Station on Thursday and held a meeting with officials of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.
The exact number of WANO representatives who visited the plant was kept secret for security reasons, sources said. The visit had nothing to do with the recent tritium episode at the plant; the purpose was to exchange data about the safety of nuclear plants and enhance security at nuclear power stations {and still we maintain that the visit has nothing to do with the tritium contamination of drinking water there ?}, the sources said.
GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy is planning to bring its new generation 1,520 MWe ESBWR (Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor) model to India for atomic power projects on the anvil.
The level of localisation for projects developed in India is expected to be around 65 per cent once the first set of reactors comes on stream
GE-Hitachi's mainstay 1,350 MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) is unlikely to be brought into India as it is assembled mostly in Japan, which does not have a civil nuclear pact with India.
“The new ESBWR is a model developed entirely in the US and so there should not be a problem (in getting it to India), once all the clearances happen.
GE-Hitachi had submitted the revised design documents for its ESBWR to the US nuclear regulator in September 2009. Design clearances are expected to take up to 18 months. {So, there will be no movement in the GE projects until at least 2012}
Such a shame that entire plants lay idle for so many months because there was no fuel.The project, set up in September 2002, took six years to complete. It remained idle for some months because of lack of fuel.
VP Biden is a friend of BJP and the NDA govt. He is still the biggest supporter in the administration.harbans wrote:
Biden for example has been pretty pro India by past records. India might be making a show it's responsible and wants good relations etc..blah blah. All the right PC noises emanating from our side as far as opinion building in the West is concerned. MMS might be aiming for this as his feather in the cap..rather than the nobel as folks are trying to figure out. Maybe this fits in with his anger over the IPL snub too.
Which part is negative? Just curious.despite the signals being so negative even from among ruling elite,
Do the bolded parts imply that these provisions will not apply to the import of non-nuclear materials, equipment and components required for the reactors not placed under IAEA safeguards?Govt mulls nuclear trade policy
9 Feb 2010, 0154 hrs IST, Subhash Narayan, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The government may frame a policy for undertaking international civil nuclear commerce that will also have specific provisions for conducting trade with countries where it has not signed a bilateral agreement on the peaceful use of atomic energy. India has signed operational agreements on peaceful use of atomic energy with countries such as US, France, Russia, Canada.
The department of atomic energy (DAE)-formulated draft guidelines for supply of nuclear and non-nuclear materials, equipment and components from such counties will be required assurance of their peaceful use by the two governments, said a government official requesting anonymity.
The draft guidelines provide that all future nuclear commerce (even with countries where India has no agreement) would be subject to fulfilling the conditions contained in operational agreements on peaceful use of atomic energy. These agreements provide that nuclear commerce would happen only with peaceful use assurance, application to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, provision of adequate physical protection, conditions for re-transfer, confidentiality of information and intellectual property rights. The proposed policy will facilitate civil nuclear commerce and help accelerate the growth nuclear power generation capacity in the country, he said.
“As India will be required to give assurance to the governments of supplying countries for any nuclear trade happening between entities in the two countries, it is necessary to have a policy resolution,” he said.
“The policy will be finalised after taking views of all stakeholders,” said the official. The draft guidelines also provide for strict monitoring mechanism in all future arrangement of civil nuclear commerce. Trading entities will have to keep the DAE in the loop all times for such transactions.
As per the draft, such entities will first have to get authorisation from DAE. The importers will have to furnish details of the final contract for carrying nuclear commerce within 30 days of such authorisation. On delivery of items, the importing entity will again have to get the department’s certification and get it verified within 30 days of the transfer. The government will be within its rights to physically verify the deliveries. The DAE may also suspend or revoke an authorisation. Any authorisation will be specific to an individual entity and shall be non-transferable.
India has 17 operating nuclear power reactors and plans to increase the current capacity of 4,120 Mw to 10,000 MW by 2012. The signing of Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal is expected to increase India’s nuclear power generation capacity to 40,000 MW by 2020.
"Buffer Zone" seems to be the new euphemism for "Exclusion Zone" which, I think, is the usual nomenclature used. Also, there is no mention, in this report, of the Regulatory requirement of enforcing a "Sterilized Zone" of 5 Km radius from the centre of the npp. Perhaps DAE is planning to "give up" this requirement just for making imported plants acceptable for the affected local population. "Sterilized Zone" is enforced so far for all indigenous npps.Haripur nuclear power plant becomes bone of contention
Rajat Roy / Kolkata February 10, 2010, 0:38 IST
The people of Haripur, West Bengal, are angry. A nuclear power plant they don’t want is being thrust on them and their land is being taken away to locate it. The ruling Left Front has for long sought a nuclear power plant for the state. The locals sought the help of the Trinamool Congress to stymie the state government. But now the Congress is also in the picture. It is being asked hard questions and it doesn’t know what to do.
Though not much is known about the proposed power plant, Haripur is expected to have six nuclear reactors each of 1650 MW- a total installed capacity of 10,000 MW of electricity. It is located in the coastal area of Contai, East Midnapur district, roughly 170 km away from Kolkata. Its 80,000 strong population is engaged mostly in farming and fishing.
A minimum of 1000 acres of land will have to be acquired for the proposed plant in the first phase alone The Junput fishing harbor will fall in this zone. Naba Dutta, an activist and general secretary of Nagarik Mancha, claims that according to S K Jain, chairman, Site Selection Committee and chairman of National Power Corporation, an area of two square kilometers will be required to locate the plant and a buffer zone with a radius of 1.6 km would have to be created around it.
So, the actual requirement of the land will increase progressively. Since the density of population in the coastal East Midnapur is quite substantial, (870 per sq km) the number of people required to be relocated would be huge.
From the point of view of the people of Haripur, already anxious that the state government has not come forward with any facts about the proposed power plant, it is the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government which is also culpable in the decision to locate the plant that will gobble up agricultural land. And with an election next year, the Congress cannot afford to equivocate on the matter.
Accordingly, Pradip Bhattacharjee, a senior vice president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) has sent a report to Pranab Mukherjee pleading that the issue be handled with political delicacy to pacify the farmers of Haripur and to some extent, the farmers of South Bengal.
"Nothing should be done in a hurry there. The government needs to study the impact of the proposed displacement of the farmers and the fishermen of Haripur on them before taking any final decision," said Bhattacharjee.
Since villagers came to know the government has plans to acquire their land, they have started putting up road block, resisting entry of government officials in their villages.
Trinamool MP representing the constituency, Shubhendu Adhikari has already asserted that any attempt to set up a power plant there would be resisted with all the means at the command of the locals.
True to his words, last week when the state Congress sent a fact finding team to Haripur, the agitated villagers did not allow it to enter. Shailaja Das, a district Congress leader, who was a member of that team later admitted: “the villagers were so agitated that they were not ready to talk to us”. Pradip Bhattacharjee said, "using loudspeaker our people addressed the villagers from outside the area. We told them that the decision was not taken by Congress alone. UPA government is a coalition with all sorts of political parties. We will convey the feeling of the villagers to Delhi."
Accordingly Bhattacharjee sent a report to Pranab Mukherjee. He felt that the Centre should also sent experts to study the possible impact of the nuclear reactors on the health of the local people.
Pranab Mukherjee was in Kolkata yesterday to discuss the strategy for the forthcoming municipal poll. He was apprised of the situation at Haripur by his party men.
The Congress is conscious that the 2011 Assembly election in west Bengal could unseat the three-decade hegemony of the Left Front in West Bengal. So it wants to do nothing to alienate any section of the voting populace. But at the same time, it cannot afford to let go of a facility Bengal has been seeking for 30 years.
It was in the 1960s that then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu first voiced the demand for a nuclear power plant in West Bengal. How the Congress will balance its politics with its commitment to nuclear energy remains to be seen.
Will this waiver really make the plant acceptable? It may be simpler and cheaper to short-circuit years of fruitless political arguments, protests etc and just build the plant somewhere else in India.Perhaps DAE is planning to "give up" this requirement just for making imported plants acceptable for the affected local population.
Gerardji we cannot punish all the people of WB for the sake of a few protestors. Many of these protestors may be misled by the vested interests of a few. These few rotten ones may be representing the interests of outsiders. In India protests usually have a hidden hand guiding the movement and IB is not blind about these movers. Hopefully GoI will provide the protestors with a fair deal in exchange for their land. 10,000 Mw is a lot of power and we need such large projects spread through out India if we expect to bring uniform development of resources and opportunities.Gerard wrote:Will this waiver really make the plant acceptable? It may be simpler and cheaper to short-circuit years of fruitless political arguments, protests etc and just build the plant somewhere else in India.Perhaps DAE is planning to "give up" this requirement just for making imported plants acceptable for the affected local population.
West Bengal wasn't ready for a car plant and it isn't ready for a power plant.
Besides, Marx and Mao are more romantic when read by candlelight
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought BJP's help in ensuring passage of nuclear liability bill that has been cleared by the Cabinet and needs the assistance of the main Opposition in Rajya Sabha where the ruling coalition is short of numbers.
Gerard wrote:Nuclear liability bill: PM seeks BJP's helpPrime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought BJP's help in ensuring passage of nuclear liability bill that has been cleared by the Cabinet and needs the assistance of the main Opposition in Rajya Sabha where the ruling coalition is short of numbers.
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0912/0912.3991.pdfOn Yields of May 11, 1998 Indian explosions by network averaged teleseismic P-wave spectra
Authors: S.K. Sikka
(Submitted on 20 Dec 2009)
Abstract: We show here that the network averaged teleseismic P-wave spectra for Indian explosions of May 11, 1998, given by Barker et al, do not have an unambiguous interpretation. Barker et al had earlier demonstrated these were similar to the Shagan River testing site of former Soviet Union. We prove here that these are equally consistent with RUBIS (57 kt) and PILEDRIVER (62kt) explosions in French Hogger and US Nevada testing sites respectively.
On Yields of May 11, 1998 Indian explosions by network averaged teleseismic P-wave spectra
S.K.Sikka
Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India, Delhi
...
The above analysis clearly shows that the net work-averaged P wave spectra given by the US scientists now fully support the radiochemical yield estimates of Indian scientists and also the interpretation of close-in data and seismic analysis done earlier (Sikka et al [7- 9] and Roy et al [10]) and that the thermonuclear device performed as designed (see Table 1).
Technique
Yield (kt)
Close-in-acceleration
58
P-wave magnitude calibrated with Pok-1 yield
53
Net- work averaged P wave spectrum (reinterpreted)
57-62
Δm(Lg) between Pok 1 and Pok 2
58
Ms from regional and teleseismic stations
46-53
Δm (pcp) between Pok 1 and Pok 2
58-63
Radiochemical
Thermonuclear
Fission
50 ± 10
13 ± 3
The government’s nuclear-accident liability bill seeks to burden Indian taxpayers with a huge hidden subsidy by protecting foreign reactor builders from the weight of the financial consequences of severe accidents.
. . .
To compound matters, the government’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill, proposed to be introduced in the upcoming Parliament session, amounts to yet another tier of state subsidy, even if a hidden one. The bill is designed to shield foreign-reactor builders from the weight of the financial consequences of severe accidents. It shifts the primary burden for accident liability from the foreign builders to the Indian state. Although its text has not yet been made public, the bill is said to cap total compensation payable in the event of a severe radioactive release at Rs. 2,250 crore ($483 million), with the liability of the foreign supplier restricted to a trifling Rs. 300 crore ($64.6 million).
That represents an Indian taxpayer subsidy to foreign firms to help slash their cost of doing business in India. Each foreign reactor will carry a price tag of several billion dollars. Given that India has agreed to award contracts specifically to U.S., French and Russian firms, each such foreign supplier is expected to build more than one twin-reactor plant. India indeed has agreed in writing to import at least 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power-generating capacity from the U.S. alone. While each such firm stands to rake in billions of dollars in profit from the Indian market, its accident liability is being capped virtually at a pittance.
. . .
Why should a poor country like India assume liability from a ridiculously low threshold? In fact, to cover claims of personal injury and property damage in the event of a catastrophic nuclear accident, India — given the density of its population and the consequent higher risks — must also maintain a large standby compensation pool, but without the state being burdened.
Another troubling aspect of the proposed Indian legislation is that while the Price-Anderson Act permits economic (but not legal) channelling of liability, thereby allowing lawsuits against any party, New Delhi is granting foreign suppliers immunity from legal actions — however culpable they may be for an accident — by introducing legal channelling of all liability to the Indian state (which will run the foreign-built plants through its Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited). What will it do to nuclear safety to free foreign suppliers upfront from “the precautionary principle” and “the polluter pays principle” and turn their legal liability for an accident into mere compensation, that too at an inconsequential level?
. . .
Heading the talks in the civil nuclear arena, chief of the Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy, Sergei Kirienko, discussed the prospects of further cooperation. Both sides have agreed to set up more nuclear reactors in Kudankulam and discussions are continuing on sourcing more reactors for the existing site and the new site in West Bengal, offered by the Indian government.
The Indo-Russia umbrella nuclear agreement that covers much more ground as compared to pacts signed with other countries, was initialled during Dr. Singh’s visit to Moscow in December last year and the interlocutors are confident of signing it during Mr. Putin’s visit.
this is why i hate the nuclear power industry.It shifts the primary burden for accident liability from the foreign builders to the Indian state.
How is "broad-based cooperation" in "the sensitive domain" tied up with "Civil Nuclear Cooperation"? What could be "sensitive" about the so-called and so-sold civil nuclear cooperation?SINGAPORE: A team of civil nuclear experts from India is in South Korea to explore avenues of “broad-based cooperation” in the sensitive domain, according to diplomatic sources.
Experts from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India are attending a two-day professional workshop in Seoul.
India's first set of indigenous 700mw pressurised heavy water reactors, would be a reality in the next six years, as the excavation work at Kakrapar in Gujarat has already begun, S K Jain, chairman and managing director of NPCIL said.
The Centre had last October given a financial sanction of Rs 24,000 crore for four units of 700mw of PHWRs, two each at Kakrapar and Rawatbhata in Rajashtan, he said.
“We will begin the first ‘pour of concrete’ next month in Kakrapar and in Rajasthan power project site for reactor raft and wish to finish the construction of the plants within five years from that day,” Jain said at the 22nd annual Heavy Water Day here on Wednesday.
"sensitive" is just DDM speak.Sanatanan wrote: How is "broad-based cooperation" in "the sensitive domain" tied up with "Civil Nuclear Cooperation"? What could be "sensitive" about the so-called and so-sold civil nuclear cooperation?
BARC is in the "military" list. What are "bears" doing in "Siva Pooja"?
"Separation Plan" tight to the extent of tritiated water leaked into the cooler onleeGerard wrote:
BARC may be off limits to inspections and military work may be going on there but it is not a military facility.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20100224/10 ... -gamd.html
An employee of the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) was found dead in his Gamdevi home, late on Monday night.
police found a string tied around Iyer's neck and registered a case of accidental death suspecting Iyer had committed suicide.
"When the autopsy reports arrived it was confirmed that Iyer was murdered," Roy said. "However, there were no signs of injuries on the body.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 608458.cms
Mahadevan Padmanabhan Iyer (42), a mechanical engineer working in BARC's Reactor Group, was found murdered at his residence 'Anand Bhavan' near Breach Candy Hospital late last night," Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Mohite said.
Hailing from Tamil Nadu, Iyer was found lying in his bed with a rope tied around his neck, which bore injuries. Iyer was last seen on Saturday (February 20), he said.
Suppiah wrote:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000142 ... 82176.html
Small reactors, the size of a railway coach and generating 150MW or so...India should ask Unkil to give this because each town or city can have one or two, no pollution, no coal or terrorist supplied oil required..
Indian companies such as Essar, the London-listed Vedanta and a subsidiary of shipmaker Varun Industries are scouting around for opportunities to explore and mine uranium in countries like Australia, Canada and parts of Africa, which have deposits of the mineral used for nuclear reactors.
AK/DAE proposed and designed one for Indian situation based on the three-stage philosophy.Suppiah wrote:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000142 ... 82176.html
Small reactors, the size of a railway coach and generating 150MW or so...India should ask Unkil to give this because each town or city can have one or two, no pollution, no coal or terrorist supplied oil required..
"Small" is relative.As per the data shown in Table-1, the Andaman and Nicobar islands currently have about 50 MWe installed capacity. The population of these islands is about 3.6 lakhs [1,3] divided into 39 islands. Considering future growth of population and growing tourism industry in the islands, the studies show that, there is a requirement of electricity generating plants with capacities aggregating to about 75 MWe. Lakshadweep islands have a population of about 61000 [1,3] divided into 10 inhabited islands. The total area of the islands is 32 square km. Currently Diesel Generator based total installed capacity for power generation is around 10 MWe. Considering future growth of population and growing tourism industry in the islands, the studies show that, there is a requirement of electricity generating plants with capacities aggregating to about 15 MWe. Since the population in these islands are scattered, the studies show that, total requirements can be met by deploying smaller capacity power packs ranging in capacities from 500 kWe to 2 MWe. In addition to electricity, there is also a need for potable water in these islands. The same can be produced by desalination of seawater at moderate temperatures. Since the islands have tropic climatic conditions, they do not have heating requirements.