Bharat Rakshak

RoyG wrote:

There is somethings wrong in their understanding of the unstable situation between India and Pakistan

But the whole exercise is to train the new generation on India having a unchallenged nuclear arsenal

They are trying to poke holes in the Indian rationale and capability

Breaking out of Isolation-India's 'Modi-fied' foreign policy - Ramana Muppalla

One of the best article that connects all dots when it comes to Indian nuclear issues.

India received 3,968 tonnes nuclear fuel after signing agreements with foreign suppliers.

India has received about 3,968 tonnes of nuclear fuel to run power plants after signing agreements with foreign suppliers, the government said.

As part of the civil nuclear cooperation, India had entered into inter-governmental agreements with France, the US, Russia, Namibia, the European Union, Canada, Argentina, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, some of which are uranium producers and suppliers.

India has an accord with Areva of France for the supply of 300 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate and has tied up with Russia's TVEL Corporation to receive 2,100 tonnes of natural uranium dioxide pellets.

Agreements have been signed with NAC Kazatomprom of Kazakhstan for 2,100 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate over six years, NMMC of Uzbekistan for 2,000 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate and with Canada's Cameco for 3,000 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate.

India has so far received 299.87 tonnes of natural uranium ore concentrate from Areva and 2,095.90 tonnes from NAC Kazatomprom. It also got 1,514.69 tonnes of natural uranium dioxide pellets and 58.29 tonnes of enriched uranium dioxide pellets from TVEL, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

Read details on what was the real no. 1 deal made during NaMo's visit to France:

Areva’s deal with L&T may help India overcome Japan’s N-hurdle

That culminated in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) being signed a few months later in Paris. M V Kotwal, head of L&T's heavy engineering, said "we feel it's a good window of opportunity for both of us." Areva has been getting hammered on the cost front by South Korean companies, as well as others. The Indian government reckons that with L&T, both sides have a win-win opportunity. L&T can manufacture with top-notch technology but at competitive prices. Moreover, it can become a global relationship. Meanwhile, PM got a boost for his Make in India programme.

For Areva, which is expected to build six 1,650 MWe EPR reactors at Jaitapur, Maharashtra, having L&T manufacture critical components, including giant forgings could bring down costs substantially. That would have an impact on the final cost of power, which had become a sticking point in the negotiations. The deal between Areva and L&T allowed France and India to sign an early works agreement. Company and government officials say if the agreement takes off, India could also export components to third countries, giving both South Korea and China a run for their money.

For the record, a few nuggets of information about activism in 'international' nuclear scene:
Clinton foundation accepted millions from a company mining Uranium, linked to Russia

..$2.35 million came from family foundation of company chairman involved in selling Canadian uranium company to Russian state-owned firm
..
Approval of Uranium One's sale helped Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom gain control of uranium assets in the US and Kazakhstan (
..
Bill Clinton's trip to Kazakhstan and its president Nursultan Nazarbayev (pictured) helped paved the way for a major foundation donor Frank Giustra to start a booming uranium business there
..

Read it all. From comments:

Nothing new for the Clintons. Bill accepted millions in donations to the same charity from China while working on the Free Trade agreement with China.
..
"Anne-Marie Slaughter, the State Department's director of policy planning at the time, said she was unaware of the transaction- or the extent to which it made Russia a dominant uranium supplier". Somewhat surprising for a director of policy planning.
..

kmkraoind wrote:Breaking out of Isolation-India's 'Modi-fied' foreign policy - Ramana Muppalla

One of the best article that connects all dots when it comes to Indian nuclear issues.

How so? By trying to circumvent Indian law that his own party supported and import of questionable quality reactors at huge potential costs instead of investing in our own? Some Modi-fied foreign policy this is - it is more like MMS policy on steroids.

/\

The author gave enough hints about what the strategy is. The P5 is trying to follow the program of cap, contain and rollback regarding India's nuclear assets and power unless India signs CTBT and NPT. What Modi-ji is trying to do is to break the shackles and develop nuclear co-operation and indulge in nuclear power business with all the P5 countries (sans China) and all major nuclear suppliers group. In that process we may have to bribe with a few expensive fighter planes or bring about changes to our liability law with innovative insurance premiums, so be it. We shouldn't miss the forest for the trees.

The fact that MMS also tried to execute the same strategy indicates that this strategy was probably conceived and advocated by Indian strategic and security establishments. Only that Modi seems to be actually executing it whereas MMS was struggling (except for the accomplishment of getting India into the nuclear suppliers group).

Indeed, schinnas. The pattern is there to see. None of the current U purchase on the market or any of the current steps would have been possible without the "Indo US deal" and the author has rightly called out how India's signing of similar deals with France and Russia offset the risks of being beholden to NPT/CTBT. Even now, India is quite willing to do business with the USA, and the US govt. has stepped back and asked the companies to negotiate with the Indian govt, and none of the US companies are willing to do that...so the ball is in the court of US companies.

Kakkaji wrote:Read details on what was the real no. 1 deal made during NaMo's visit to France:
]That culminated in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) being signed a few months later in Paris. M V Kotwal, head of L&T's heavy engineering, said "we feel it's a good window of opportunity for both of us." Areva has been getting hammered on the cost front by South Korean companies, as well as others. The Indian government reckons that with L&T, both sides have a win-win opportunity. L&T can manufacture with top-notch technology but at competitive prices. Moreover, it can become a global relationship. Meanwhile, PM got a boost for his Make in India programme. The deal between Areva and L&T allowed France and India to sign an early works agreement. Company and government officials say if the agreement takes off, India could also export components to third countries, giving both South Korea and China a run for their money.

With this collaboration, L&T and Areva can really take big bite of Nuclear power plan Biz in Africa, South America , ME and even in Asia. Let Japanese keep doing their usual Ghusarpusar shenanigans. South Korea was/is good alternative to Japan as supplier but building at home is even better. Once MII =Make in India gain full momentum, Japani will be left with good option of 50 Onions in India to eat and 100 Dandas from China for beat treat feat.

Rosatom Chief
http://vpk.name/news/130863_sergei_kiri ... etsya.html

- In addition to the Middle East countries, other promising and important markets for Russia are India and China. To date, how's cooperation with these countries?

- Although there are difficulties in India in the state of Tamil Nadu, which led to a delay (the government postponed start unit), we have fulfilled all their obligations and build a cutting-edge power units, the first of which started up after the accident at the "Fukushima" in accordance with the modern safety requirements. That is why we in India today signed a contract for two new units on the same site and road map for another 12 blocks.

Tuvaluan wrote:Indeed, schinnas. The pattern is there to see. None of the current U purchase on the market or any of the current steps would have been possible without the "Indo US deal" and the author has rightly called out how India's signing of similar deals with France and Russia offset the risks of being beholden to NPT/CTBT. Even now, India is quite willing to do business with the USA, and the US govt. has stepped back and asked the companies to negotiate with the Indian govt, and none of the US companies are willing to do that...so the ball is in the court of US companies.

The best part of the article is, it is penned by our own Muppalla garu.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

It is my firm belief, MMS has brought the Nuke deal but never took beyond the " advantage-Massa " and instead blamed the liability laws on opposition. UPA may had stagnated due to scams etc but they never even tried to take next steps aggressively where it is possible just from administration moves.
All this has nothing to do in pushing indigenous programs as that is independent of imports. That can form the export strategy of future. It is important from where India is currently situated that it needs flow of fuel and reactors.

Is this the right forum

Secrets Free-for-all as DRDO Has 50K Contractual Hires

NEW DELHI: It’s akin to contract killing of the country’s defence research establishments. With their easy access to classified and secret information, thousands of people working on contractual or temporary basis in India’s top secret defence projects have turned out to be the biggest threat to national security.

A spate of arrests for spying has alarmed the government. But the country’s premier defence research agency—Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) — has a strength of more than 50,000 temporary or casual employees who have complete access to all of its classified and research activities.

^^link please

Is this normal or have the russians succeeded in taking us for a ride again??

Kudankulam Nuclear Plant – Technical snag

Tirunelveli (TN) May 10

Power generation in the first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) has been suspended due to a technical snag, officials said today.

However, repair work has already been commenced to rectify the snag, which was detected yesterday and it would be set right in one or two days, they said.

Work on commercial power generation in the 1,000 MW second unit was also continuing, the officials said.

Todays tweet:
Narendra Modi @narendramodi · 21h 21 hours ago
We salute efforts of our scientists & political leadership behind the success of Pokhran Tests on this day in 1998.


Also:

APJ Abdul Kalam @APJAbdulKalam · May 10
Today,I remember the hot day of 1998 at Pokhran: 53C.
When most of the world was sleeping; India's nuclear era emerged.

Fast breeder reactor to start power production from Sept.

After years of work involving technology challenges and delays, India's first indigenously designed 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor will start generating power from September and feed it to the southern power grid.

The unit will roughly generate about 25-30 per cent of its total rated capacity of 500 MW, according to P Chellapandi, Chairman and Managing Director of the Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI).

BHAVINI, the implementing arm of the Department of Atomic Energy is setting up the PFBR at Kalpakkam, around 75 km from Chennai. The unit is expected to go `critical’ by end of July or early August.

After a few more tests and approval from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, it will start producing a part of its capacity, he told newspersons here today.

The unit will become fully operational in 2016. A breeder reactor uses MOX fuel, which is a combination of plutonium and uranium oxide.

There is enough fuel supply at present, he told newspersons at the national seminar on `Prospects & Challenges of nuclear power and nuclear fuel cycle programme in India’, organised by the Engineering Staff College of India here.

The fuel has been developed by nuclear scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakam. The PFBR is designed by IGCAR.

India is pursuing a 3-stage, nuclear power programme, linking the fuel cycles of the pressurised heavy water reactors and the sodium cooled fast breeder reactors for judicious utilisation of its modest Uranium and vast Thorium resources.

At present, it is running 21 nuclear power reactors, mostly small pressurised heavy water ones with a total installed capacity of 5,300 MW. It is adding 6 more (4,300 MW) to reach 14,600 MW by 2020.

C. Rajamohan plumbs new depths of sillyness -- he actually wants India to have "nuclear civil cooperation" with China, presumably so that China can leapfrog India afetr India willingly hands over its IP in thorium tech. to China in the name of nuclear cooperation. Why is this guy premising all of his suggestions on the assumption that India should align its nuclear policies with the US's goals on clean energy? What does China have in the civil nuclear arena that could possibly help India?

http://indianexpress.com/article/blogs/ ... dimension/

Despite their multiple differences and growing strategic contestation in Asia, China and the United States are eager to develop nuclear energy cooperation. President Barack Obama has asked the U.S. Senate this week to approve a new 30-year civil nuclear cooperation agreement with China.

The agreement will allow the exchange of nuclear material, equipment and technology between the two countries. Climate change has been a major driver behind the Obama Administration’s decision. It should also animate the discussions between Modi and the Chinese leadership on moving quickly towards atomic energy cooperation.

You would think this analyst would at least recognize that China has as much motivation as the US in ensuring that India signs up to four letter treaties as the US does. Besides, what is all this about aligning India's moves based on Obama's "clean energy" desires? Not to mention, his asinine idea of exchanging nuclear tech with china, i.e., willingly handing over Indian IP to China. China's Nuclear plants are sourced from US Westinghouse for the most part -- their more advanced models IIRC.

How AP is becoming India’s nuclear core.

With Visakhapatnam set to host BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) 2 and GE-Hitachi collaborating with Nuclear Power Corporation to set up a cluster of six 1,600 MW reactors at Kovvada in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh is fast turning into the country’s nuclear core.

BARC Director Sekhar Basu told BusinessLine that the 4,000-acre BARC-2 campus in Visakhapatnam will have strategic facilities, a fuel fabrication unit, futuristic accelerators and a Hiflux reactor producing large quantities of radioisotopes. Currently, the Dhruva reactor in Trombay (Mumbai) is the mainstay.

Though the project was green-signalled in 2005 and some funds sanctioned in 2009, opposition from local people and issues around land acquisition had hindered it. It is now gathering pace and will be set up in phases. “We expect it to be the key centre driving the country’s nuclear research and development programmes,” he said.

Groundwork has been initiated at Kovvada for the mega nuclear power project, facilitated by the India-US Nuclear Treaty. Though the actual construction activity is yet to begin, the GE-Hitachi-NPCIL team has started public awareness campaigns.

Andhra Pradesh will soon turn a key supplier of atomic fuel. At Thummalapalle, Kadapa district, where the largest deposit of low-grade uranium ore (about one lakh tonnes) was discovered by the Atomic Minerals Division, Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) is working at full throttle to start production. UCIL is struggling to supply the 21 power plants with mining restricted to Jharkhand’s Jaduguda mines.

AP has also made a proposal to the Department of Atomic Energy on setting up a greenfield nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Kurnool district. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu gave the project the go-ahead last week.

According to DAE sources, the Department is inclined to accept the proposal. This facility will supplement the Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad, the main fuel supplier.

Didn't know about the Bhahatron till now, when NaMo handed over a machine to Mongolia today. Here are some details for those who don't know either:

Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has given high priority to health care, especially for cancer treatment. DAE has been funding cancer hospitals for cancer research and setting up of treatment facilities. Radioisotopes, produced in research reactors and power reactors in the country, are being used for diagnosis, treatment and sterilization of medical products. DAE has also been in developing tools and techniques for treating the killer disease. Bhabhatron, the indigenous telecobalt machine, is one of the successful products developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai for cancer treatment.

Source: http://www.barc.gov.in/clip/bhabhatron.html


More details at: http://www.barc.gov.in/clip/bhabhatron.pdf

Start-up of 2nd power unit at India’s Kudankulam NPP planned for summer — Rosatom

KAZAN, May 15. /TASS/. The start-up of the second power unit at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, which India is building with Russia’s assistance, is scheduled for the summer of 2015, Russian civilian nuclear power corporation Rosatom Deputy Head Alexander Lokshin said on Friday.

"The second unit of the Kudankulam NPP will be launched in the summer of 2015 and this year surely," the Rosatom official said, adding the final launch dates would depend on the Indian side.

In 2010, Russia and India signed a roadmap envisaging the construction of up to 14 or 16 Russian-design power units in India.

Austin wrote:Start-up of 2nd power unit at India’s Kudankulam NPP planned for summer — Rosatom

KAZAN, May 15. /TASS/. The start-up of the second power unit at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, which India is building with Russia’s assistance, is scheduled for the summer of 2015, Russian civilian nuclear power corporation Rosatom Deputy Head Alexander Lokshin said on Friday.

"The second unit of the Kudankulam NPP will be launched in the summer of 2015 and this year surely," the Rosatom official said, adding the final launch dates would depend on the Indian side.

In 2010, Russia and India signed a roadmap envisaging the construction of up to 14 or 16 Russian-design power units in India.

Same news in this link too i think Commissioning of Kudankulam unit 2 in advanced stage: DEA chief Ratan Kumar Sinha

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) had postponed putting the power unit 2 into commercial operation until July 2015. Before that, commissioning had been postponed three times .
"We had removed some components of turbine of Kudankulam unit. Kudankulam unit 1 had a problem and could not be commissioned to full power. So the turbine components are being made. Unit 2 commissioning is at a very advanced stage."

"Definitely this year," Rosatom's First Deputy CEO for Operations Management Alexander Lokshin told the journalists . "We do not construct anything there (in India). Indian people carry out the construction.".

We have seen reports of plenty of maintenance issues with the reactors. Can nuclear gurus in the know comment ?

AFAIK It is non trivial to get nuclear plants up and running right -- as the Rosatom CEO mentions, the Indian workforce is learning the hard way on getting these plants up and running. Hopefully, these hard lessons will translate to a concrete ability to build and sell nuclear plants of Indian design and manufacture down the line. Such opportunities to learn and develop a skilled workforce in high tech areas do not come easy -- better to delay commissioning than commission them with known issues and undercut the entire sector for the long term.

This report is a few years late in its recommendations to the GoI, which has already been on this path since 2005.

http://takshashila.org.in/takshashila-p ... -security/

Invest in diversity across the board
Be agnostic to any source of affordable energy in the short term.
Already the case as seen by the number of different countries in which India has a stake in U mines

Trade with suppliers, buy from trading partners
Diversify trade relations with existing suppliers and/or substitute them with countries that already have significant trade relations with India.
Not quite that simple -- as seen with Australia/Japan -- Non-proliferation/arms control interests raise barriers, but the previous and current govt. have been trying to bring them down

Purchase preferably from competitive markets
Manage political risks by purchasing fuel supplies in all processing stages, from markets which have multiple players.
Already being done

Make markets more competitive if they are not
Work with cartels like Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) if the opportunity costs are manageable. If not, dismantle them.
Can't just dismantle these cartels from the outside -- unrealistic advice.

Fuel is fungible, so use it wisely
Not really -- only locally mined fuel is fungible, not the fuel acquired from the international market. that was the whole point with the civilian-military separation in the Indo-US "deal".

Use price sensitivity as a purchasing principle.
cartel controls make price sensitivity political as much as commercial

Share the risks between plant communities and user communities
Price and distribute the risks of plant communities.
Requires that both communities see the same reality to cooperate in that manner -- hard to do when NGOs like Greenpeace and other Church-driven NGOs like PMANE actively spread disinformation, along with left-wing/congress party drones

Secure supply routes
Factor in the sea/land route availability and safety.
air transporation is also viable and possibly less risky than sea/land transportation

Invest in domestic industry
Hedge against the prospect of trade restrictions or transport disruptions affecting its supply security by investing in a domestic industry.
Must also include local nuclear plants and the Thorium program -- GoI's deals with France (for example) recently indicate they are already doing this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... plant.html
Fukushima leak 'could cause hydrogen explosion' at nuclear plant

Warnings of risk of hydrogen explosion due to build up of gases in containers leaking radioactive water at Japan's disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant

The designs of N-plants being touted to us has to be most carefully examined,as safety is the paramount priority,which the Western suppliers are trying desperately to avoid responsibility for.The quantum of liability fixed by the GOI is peanuts compared to the expense of containment of the radiation leaks,cleaning up and rehabilitation of the population,running into hundreds of billions of $$.

We would be better off investing in our own N-plants and huge solar plants,windmills onshore and offshore,which have no environmental damage at all. Until then,thermal plants are safer though they might be detrimental to the "global warming" issue which has reached critical proportions.

Pak's N-proliferation fears as it will definitely pass on N-warheads to its godfathers,the N-ambitious Soothis,for bankrolling its N-programme and possibly even the ISIS gang who would not hesitate to use it.Should this happen,there is no way that the Iranians will not go nuclear in return.The problem is that the US will yet again turn a blind eye to the Soothis going nuclear as it did with the Pakis.

Nuclear Saudi Arabia: Rising ambitions of the House of Saud
http://rt.com/op-edge/263113-saudi-arab ... pon-power/

Catherine Shakdam is a political analyst, writer and commentator for the Middle East with a special focus on radical movements and Yemen.
May 29, 2015 10:51

A Hatf-VI (Shaheen-II) missile (background) is displayed during the Pakistan Day parade in Islamabad March 23, 2015. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia's seemingly ever-expanding ambitions threaten now to draw the region and the world closer to the edge of a dangerous precipice as it seeks to buy out Pakistan's nuclear power.

Just as Iran and the P5+1 are set to finalize a tentative nuclear deal by June's end, offering the world a much-needed respite from talks of war and aggravated political tensions, Saudi Arabia is stretching its nuclear ambitions.

The most violent, reactionary and arguably most oppressive regime, in not just the region but the world, is now has ambitions to rise to a nuclear power. It is actually much worse than that - the very state which interpretation of Islam, Wahhabism, has inspired an entire generation of radical wannabe jihadists is vying for access to nuclear weapons.

If Iran's alleged nuclear race was mainly the expression of western political posturing - even Mossad agreed that both Washington’s and Tel Aviv's concerns have been largely over-hyped and over-played - Riyadh's ambition is no laughing matter, especially when the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leadership boasted a similar desire.

Although the kingdom has yet to officially verbalize its nuclear intentions, enough breadcrumbs have been left in the media to spell the writing on the wall. In true PR fashion, Saudi Arabia has planted a sufficient amount of stories on its "covert" nuclear program and military aspirations in the press to prove how serious its officials are about conditioning public opinion and driving the narrative.

The main axis of Riyadh's campaign has been and will be to justify going nuclear on the basis that Iran stands a regional threat - however unfounded and ludicrous this logic may be, wars have been fought over less sophisticated allegations. We're still looking for those weapons of mass destruction.

Arm-ageddon: US to resupply Israel’s bombs & missiles arsenal, sell attack choppers to S. Arabia

Beyond this clever media stunt, one truth remains - unless stopped Saudi Arabia will become the next world nuclear power, joining Israel (believed to possess nukes) in this potentially-apocalyptic arm race.

Rumors of a forthcoming Saudi nuclear race first surfaced in November 2013 in a report by Mark Urban for the BBC. The article read, "Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects, and believes it could obtain atomic bombs at will, a variety of sources have told BBC Newsnight."

If developing a nuclear arsenal remains a complicated and time consuming endeavor, notwithstanding the technological prowess that entails, leeching on another power's capability - Pakistan in this case - could prove as simple as wiring money to an offshore account. What Saudi Arabia lacks, it will buy. There is literally nothing Al-Saud's petrodollars cannot acquire: from political support to moral blank checks, the kingdom moves immune to all criticism and legal hindrance, cloaked under America's exceptionalism.


(* This is due to the most intimate business relationship that the US establishment has with the House of Saud. The Bush family,Saudi royalty and Bin laden family are alleged partners. This also explains why the US will never desert the Pakis,because of the Saudi factor.The Saudis "own" the Pakis.It is their vassal state its servant and will always protect its courtiers who serve it,proetct it,and wipe its ...!)

After Western powers took so much pain in demonizing Iran and its leadership, painting the Islamic Republic as a devilish warmonger, a destroyer of world which only seeks to indoctrinate the Middle East, how will Washington and Europe's capitals react to a nuclear Riyadh? They simply won't!

Unlike Iran, Saudi Arabia remains a useful and ever so rich western ally, and therefore it will be allowed the means of its ambitions. Whatever rumors and reports are circulating today have long been known to the intelligence community. The US actually anticipated Riyadh's move long before Iran's own program became such a contentious matter.

Mohammed bin Salman, deputy crown prince and defense minister of Saudi Arabia (Reuters)

For almost a decade now, the Saudis have more and more openly staked their claim, pushing their pawns across the chess game without bothering to cover their tracks.

In 2007, the US mission in Riyadh noted they were being asked questions by Pakistani diplomats about US knowledge of "Saudi-Pakistani nuclear cooperation." By 2012, Saudi officials went to the Times warning, "it would be completely unacceptable to have Iran with a nuclear capability and not the kingdom."

From that point on, Riyadh has worked toward that goal, using Iran as both an excuse and an alibi.

Reportedly, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi defense minister and deputy crown prince, is currently visiting Pakistan to iron out the details of this covert nuclear deal. In hindsight, Yemen's war proves a perfect and all too suspiciously timely distraction.

​S. Arabia calls in off-the-shelf nuke option with Pakistan – report

And though a Saudi Defense Ministry official dismissed in comments to CNN on May 19 that the kingdom intends to purchase Pakistan A-bombs, experts like Stephen Lendman, a veteran political analyst and acclaimed author are not biting.

Looking at developments in the region, Saudi Arabia's nuclear aspirations are not a figment of the imagination, but rather an affirmation of the kingdom's new hawkish stance vis a vis foreign policy. Unlike his predecessor, King Abdullah ibn Saud, King Salman ibn Saud is no longer waiting for Washington to call the shots - it is drawing its ally in.

If the last ‘missed’ meeting at Camp David is anything to go by, it appears rather evident that Salman's snub was more than just a political play; it could prelude deeper ideological divergences, especially where foreign policy is concerned. Syria remains a sour point the kingdom has yet to get over.

Where it could not intervene militarily as it wished against Syrian President Bashar Assad, Saudi Arabia might seek to compensate vis a vis Iran by acquiring the weapon of all weapons.

In any case and whatever rationale Riyadh is following, a nuclear arm race in the Middle East can only end in more bloodshed and violence, especially when the IS army is planning its second expansionist wave.

Suspicious minds would even argue that Saudi Arabia's nuclear timing oddly overlaps with IS' allegations that it's now "infinitely" closer to buying a nuclear weapon. In an article titled ‘The Perfect Storm’, in the latest issue of ISIS' monthly English propaganda magazine, Dabiq, the terror group presents the idea that IS could purchase nuclear weapons from corrupt Pakistani officials, by way of militants in Islamic State's affiliated Pakistani militia group.

Three big changes that will give boost to India’s nuclear programme

First, Japan has asked India for a dedicated nuclear reactor site, signaling that not only is it willing to shed all inhibitions of doing nuclear commerce with India but is also keen to be counted with the US, France and Russia as a power building nuclear parks here.

Second, India is giving big contracts for six reactors each to US blue-chip companies GE and Westinghouse. This is a big shift from India's long-standing policy of signing deals for two reactors at one go.

Third, a critical component of the nuclear industry, the insurance structure, will be activated next month when Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) buys a nuclear insurance policy at Rs 100-crore premium from a consortium that includes General Insurance Corporation (GIC) and a group called Nuclear Risk Insurers from Britain.

http://idrw.org/lt-delivers-indigenousl ... more-67782

L&T delivers indigenously designed reactor for nuclear plant

btw, why the thread title date is today some 4 years back?

PM Modi's visit to Central Asia: India and Kazakhstan ink deals on uranium supply, defence.

Kazakhstan, a leading uranium producer globally, will supply 5,000 tonnes of uranium to India during 2015­-19, its President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced following his talks with Narendra Modi who was here on his second leg of the visit to Central Asia.

Kazakhstan will emerge as the biggest source of uranium for India besides Canada and Australia. This is the second such agreement between Astana and Delhi since 2009. Kazakhstan's uranium firm KazAtomProm supplied 600 MT of uranium ore concentrate in 2010­-11, 350 MT in 2011-­12, 402.5 MT in 2012-­13 and 460 MT in 2013-­14. The five­ year contract to supply uranium ended last year.

Read somewhere recently that the FBTR at Kalpakkam would reach criticality in September this year.

SaiK wrote:btw, why the thread title date is today some 4 years back?

Slow moving.

Kalpakkam breeder reactor to go on stream - T.S.Subramanian, The Hindu

The 500-MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, near here, is getting ready to be commissioned in September. When the reactor goes critical, it will signal India’s triumphant entry into the second stage of its three-stage nuclear power programme.

The PFBR will use plutonium-uranium oxide as fuel and 1,750 tonnes of liquid sodium as coolant. It is called a breeder reactor because it breeds more fuel than it consumes. “We are committed to making the PFBR attain criticality in September,” said P. Chellapandi, chairman and managing director, Bharatiya Nabikhiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI), a public sector undertaking of the Department of Atomic Energy, tasked with building breeder reactors.

The PFBR construction had been completed and equipment energised. “We are awaiting clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for sodium charging, fuel loading, reactor criticality and then stepping up power generation,” Dr. Chellapandi said.

The AERB had sent several safety committees to the PFBR for inspection of design compliance and component specifications.

Dr. Chellapandi said: “We have kept the sodium frozen in 10 big tanks.

“All heat transport systems, comprising the pipelines, the heat exchanger components and tanks, have been filled with pure argon to avoid any chemical reaction with sodium and oxygen. We have to melt the sodium and pump it into the reactor circuits.”

After the sodium charging, engineers will perform thermal hydraulics experiments to check the functioning of the pumps and the heat exchanger.

Later, the AERB will give clearance for loading the fuel. In the first stage of the nuclear power programme, a fleet of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, running on natural uranium, had been built. In the second stage, a series of breeder reactors will come up. Reactors running on thorium will form the third stage.

Completed the construction of the second block of Indian Kudankulam NPP with the participation of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION

http://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/65141/

Moscow, 15 July. /TASS/. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India (The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board-AERB) announced the completion of unit # 2 Kudankulam NPP, which was built in Tamil Nadu in southern India, with the participation of the Russian Federation. This follows from a statement by AERB, published on the official website of the regulator.

"Construction of unit 2 Kudankulam NPP completed. Currently the block is the initial commissioning activities, "the statement said of the Indian regulator.

As previously reported to the Deputy TASS Rosatom Alexander Lokshin, commissioning of the second block of the nuclear plant "Kudankulam" is scheduled for the summer of the year 2015, but the final timing will depend on the Indian side.

Russia has already handed over to India to guarantee the first power unit of Kudankulam NPP, which has now stopped for planned repairs.

Work on the construction of the third and fourth blocks of the NPP on the same site were scheduled to begin in 2015-2016.

Just Russia plans to build India up to 25 nuclear reactors in various parts of the country.

Nuclear talks: Russia offers India a role in new n-plants.

Russia has proposed a plan to involve India in building Russian-designed nuclear power stations in third countries. The cooperation is to be extended to the area of joint extraction of natural uranium and the production of nuclear fuel and atomic waste elimination. Russia has also offered to build over 20 nuclear power units in India, up from the 12 offered earlier.

The Russian proposal to jointly build nuclear power plants is significant, considering that Rosatom — the State-owned Russian nuclear utility — has 29 nuclear reactors in various stages of planning and construction in more than a dozen countries (the largest internationally). These include in Jordan, Hungary, Egypt, Iran, Finland, Turkey and Argentina.

The new proposals, offered by the Russians as a plank to build on their head-start in the Indian nuclear market, is expected to lay the foundation for what is being termed by Moscow as “long-term, mutually beneficial cooperation in the nuclear sector”, an official involved in the delegation-level talks between the two sides in the Russian city of Ufa said.

The Russian proposal builds on a package of inter-governmental and inter-departmental documents signed on the sidelines of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India late last year, as part of a ‘strategic vision for strengthening Indian-Russian cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear power’.

Last week, India and Russia had reviewed their bilateral relations as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Putin for a 90-minute interaction at Ufa, ahead of the BRICS Summit in the central Russian city.

The nuclear cooperation includes building on negotiations to sign an advance contract for the design of the third and fourth reactor units to come up at the Kudankulam site in Tamil Nadu.

Russia, in accordance with an inter-governmental agreement of 1988 and a supplement to it signed in 1998, is building the Kudankulam nuclear power project, the first 1,000 MWe (mega watt electric) unit of which was connected to the national grid in 2013. It is now operating under the one-year warranty maintenance period, which will last until the end of 2015. A second identical reactor is ready for commissioning.
Last year, the Russian Federation and India had signed a general framework agreement on the construction of the second phase (the third and fourth power units) of the nuclear power plant.

The biggest challenge for the new set of VVER reactors to be set up with Russian assistance is the costing aspect, particularly given the question marks raised by vendors on the uncertainties surrounding the Indian domestic nuclear liability law. The two new Russian-design VVER-1000 reactor units (KKNPP 3 & 4) to be set up in Tamil Nadu, which would come up at the kudankulam site where two identical units (KKNPP 1 & 2) are nearing commissioning, entail a sanctioned project cost of Rs 39,849 crore. This would translate into a cost of nearly Rs 20 crore per MWe (mega watt electric) as against the established benchmark of project cost of Rs 7-10 crore per MWe for existing nuclear projects, based largely on the indigenous PHWR (pressurised heavy water reactor) technology.

An official on the Indian side said that cost estimates are being fixed keeping the Russian ruble as the currency peg, something that should be to the advantage of India considering the sharp depreciation of the ruble against major currencies ever since the Ukraine-related international sanctions were slapped against Russia.

The first set of Russian VVER reactor-based projects set up in the country at Kudankulam — KKNPP 1 & 2 — had a sanctioned cost of Rs 17,270 crore, which is up for revision currently.

Built on hype, deflated by reality - Brahma Chellaney

Unveiled with great fanfare on July 18, 2005, the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal was touted as a major transformative initiative. But on its 10th anniversary this week, its much-advertised energy, technological and strategic benefits for India still seem elusive. Indeed, the deal has yet to be commercialised. The premise on which it was founded — that India could build energy “security” by importing high-priced, foreign fuel-dependent reactors — was, in any case, a pipe dream.

The deal, given the heavy political investment in it, will eventually be operationalised, however belatedly. It will take a minimum of 10 years thereafter for the first nuclear power reactor under the deal to come online. After all, the international plant construction time frame, with licensing approval, now averages at least a decade, with the vast majority of reactors currently under construction in the world plagued by serious delays and cost overruns.

Delays and challenges

For example, the Areva-designed plant in Finland, on Olkiluoto Island, is running at least nine years behind schedule, with its cost projected to rise from €3.2 billion to €8.5 billion. The Russian-origin plant at Kudankulam, in Tamil Nadu, took 13 years to be completed, with the second of its two reactors yet to be commissioned. In this light, the deal is expected to deliver its first commissioned reactor a generation after being signed.

But if reactor imports are to be governed by “technical and commercial viability,” as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared, not a single contract would be feasible. The stalled negotiations with Areva over the price of power suggest that the deal’s commercialisation would be dictated neither by technical nor commercial viability but by the extent to which India is willing to fork out subsidies to support high-priced imported reactors of a kind that do not even mesh with its three-phase nuclear power programme.

Indeed, it is a moot question whether the deal will ever yield substantive energy benefits, given the exorbitant price of foreign-origin reactors, the concomitant need to heavily subsidise electricity generated by such plants, and the grass-roots safety concerns over the Fukushima-type multi-plant nuclear parks that India has earmarked for Westinghouse, GE-Hitachi and Areva, each of which is to sell prototype Light Water Reactor (LWR) models presently not in operation anywhere in the world. The accident-stricken Fukushima reactors, in Japan, were also the first of their kind.

Adding to India’s risks from the proposed import of prototype models is its plan to induct a multiplicity of different LWR technologies from the United States, France and Russia. Given the several different reactor technologies already in operation or under development in India, such imports will likely exacerbate the country’s maintenance and safety challenges.

Issue of liability

The Indo-U.S. deal — with its many twists and turns — has hogged the limelight at virtually every bilateral summit. The deal took centre-stage even during U.S. President Barack Obama’s January 2015 visit to India. In its arduous journey toward implementation, the deal has spawned multiple subsidiary agreements. Each auxiliary deal has been hailed by an overzealous New Delhi as an important breakthrough and a diplomatic success, regardless of the concessions it had to make or the new obligations thrust upon it. Indeed, it has employed smoke and mirrors to camouflage its concessions.

Consider the latest “breakthrough” announced during Mr. Obama’s visit: India agreed to reinterpret its own law so as to effectively transfer the nuclear-accident liability of reactor vendors to Indian taxpayers. India is also reinterpreting a provision of domestic law in order to bar victims of a nuclear accident in India from suing for damages in America.

Does this yielding indicate that India has learned anything from its bitter experience over the 1984 gas leak from an American-owned chemical plant in Bhopal that killed about as many people as the Fukushima disaster? Indeed, Japan’s law, which indemnifies reactor suppliers and makes plant operators exclusively and fully liable, should serve as a sobering lesson for India: GE built or designed the three Fukushima reactors that suffered core meltdowns; yet, despite a fundamental design deficiency in the reactors, the U.S. firm escaped penalties or legal action after the disaster.

Supplier liability is a well-established legal concept, applied in many business sectors around the world to deter suppliers from taking undue risks. In fact, U.S. law allows suppliers, designers and builders of nuclear plants to be held legally liable in the event of accidents, although the 1957 Price-Anderson Act channels economic liability, but not legal liability, to operators. Internationally, however, America has pushed an opposite norm — that importing countries channel all liability to their plant operators and limit all claims to the jurisdiction of their own courts so as to free suppliers of any downside risks.

Economics of nuclear power

The nuclear power dream has faded globally. The crash of oil and gas prices, coupled with skyrocketing reactor-construction costs, has made the economics of nuclear power more unfavourable than ever. Few new reactors are under construction in the West, with the troubled nuclear power industry desperate for exports. Even as the global role of nuclear power appears set to become marginal, India stands out today as the sole country wedded to major reactor-import plans.

Surprisingly, Mr. Modi has placed the nuclear deal, like his predecessor, at the hub of the relationship with America. Washington has long pandered to the Indian weakness for the deal’s consummation, with its decade-long negotiations characterised by shifting goalposts.

It made the Modi government yield some ground even on its demand that India accept nuclear-material tracking and accounting arrangements that go beyond the safeguards system that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has approved and applied to India’s civilian nuclear programme. In other words, an elaborate bilateral safeguards system, on top of IAEA inspections, in which India will separately track and account for nuclear materials “by flag” (that is, by each national origin).

Going back on commitments

For its part, the U.S. has reneged on several of its 2005 commitments. Gone is the pretence of Washington extending India “full” nuclear cooperation or granting it “the same benefits and advantages as other leading countries with advanced nuclear technology, such as the U.S.” Gone also is the original agreement that India would “assume the same responsibilities and practices” as America. Instead of meeting its commitment to adjust domestic laws and guidelines of U.S.-led multilateral regimes to “enable full civil nuclear energy cooperation and trade with India,” the U.S. actually worked with its Congress and with the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to bar exports of what India really needs — civilian enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technology, even though such transfers would be under international safeguards.

Consider another issue: Years after the U.S. pledged to bring India into the four American-led technology-control cartels — the NSG, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement — India is still pleading for its admission, with Mr. Obama in New Delhi merely reiterating America’s support for India’s “phased entry” into these groups. In anticipation of membership, India had largely harmonised its export controls with the guidelines of the four cartels. It is now filing a formal application for admission to each regime, in the hope that the U.S. would be more forthcoming in its support than it has been so far.

Reality check for India

Even in the event of India being admitted to the regimes, the technology controls it still faces will not go away. These regimes are designed to harmonise export policies, not to promote technology trade among member-states. Despite the vaunted U.S.-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, the U.S. side refused early this year to accept any of the six joint high-technology projects proposed by India, insisting that New Delhi first sign “foundational agreements” on military logistics and communication interoperability that America has designed for its allies in a patron-client framework. The four joint projects announced during the Obama visit were for relatively modest defence products.

The key fact is that U.S. non-proliferation policy has yet to treat India on a par with another nuclear-armed country outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty fold — Israel.

Against this background, why an import deal to generate an increasingly expensive source of energy critical to Indian interests but has never been elaborated by deal pushers in India? They have peddled only beguiling slogans, such as “End of nuclear apartheid against India” and “A place for India at the international high table”. India would be foolhardy to saddle its taxpayers with uneconomical reactor imports, making the Enron dud look small. India’s diplomatic overinvestment in the deal has already made it harder for it to address more fundamental issues with the U.S., including an increasingly one-sided defence relationship.

It is past time for India to reduce the salience of the deal in its relations with America. Without being weighed down by the nuclear-deal millstone, India would be better placed to forge a closer, more balanced partnership with Washington. The warming U.S.-India relationship has gained momentum independent of the deal’s future.

(Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research, is the author, among others, of Nuclear Proliferation: The U.S.-India Conflict .)

The U.S. actually worked with its Congress and the Nuclear Suppliers Group to bar exports of what India really needs — civilian enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technology, even though such transfers would be under global safeguards.

The Indo-U.S nuclear deal and its much-advertised energy, technological and strategic benefits for India still seem elusive. Given the heavy political investment in it, the returns seem to be little and one-sided

Vipul wrote:Nuclear talks: Russia offers India a role in new n-plants.

IF they can leverage the partnership with Rosatom it would be good for Indian industry , Last I saw Rosatom had a portfolio of $103 billion for all the reactor that is under construction and signed .. I am sure their own industry cant manage such huge orders alone and hence partnering India would be mutual beneficial.

India to build a 'strategic uranium reserve' - PTI

After a record production this year, India is working on creating a 'strategic uranium reserve' to ensure its atomic power reactors do not face shortage of the crucial nuclear fuel.

"The reserve pool could be anywhere between 5000 MT to 15,000 MT which can last for 5-10 years," said a senior government official.

A proposal for stocking 5000 MT of uranium has been sent to the Cabinet for approval but the cap is likely to increase in the coming years.

Over the past one year, India has been pursuing its case to buy uranium from different countries including Australia and Canada. It is also procuring uranium from Russia for its indigenous reactors. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Kazakhstan last week, India renewed a contract with the Central Asian country to procure 5000 MT of uranium.

After Hyderabad another Nuclear Fuel Complex is coming up in Kota in Rajasthan, sources said.

"For all these years, we could not think of having a reserve like other countries have due to the impending sanctions. But now we can think of working to build a reserve of nuclear fuel.

"We are mostly depending on the uranium from Australia. Once we start getting it, we can start building the reserve. Uranium from Kazakhstan will largely meet the current demand. It is a rare commodity, so one should keep piling it whenever it is available at a cheaper rate in the international market," the official added.

Under the Indo-US nuclear deal, the latter is to support India?s initiative for having a nuclear pool. "The United States will support an Indian effort to develop a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel to guard against any disruption of supply over the lifetime of India's reactors," the agreement states.

Indian reactors had been "under-performing" as they did not get enough fuel from the outside world prior to the historic Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement due to sanctions. However, since its inception, India has started importing uranium from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and France.

In a major milestone, India this year registered a record production of over 1,252 MT of uranium, manufacturing close to double the annual fuel requirement of atomic reactors in the country. The production has far exceeded the country's annual fuel requirement of 650 MT for the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), which means the country has surplus nuclear fuel that will last several months.

Every 700 MW of reactor needs 125 MT of uranium every year. However, with the rising number of power reactors in the country, the demand is expected to rise. In the near future, two nuclear reactors of 700 MW each in Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) and Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) are coming up. Four atomic reactors of 700 MW each are also coming up at the Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP).

Fuel for Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu and Jaitapur in Maharashtra, coming up in collaboration with Russia and France respectively, will be made available by the foreign players.

we need to add another zero. 150,000 MT perhaps sounds right.

Construction of Second Phase of India's Kudankulam NPP May Start in 2015

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"The Government has accorded financial sanction for two more projects namely Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP) Units 1&2 (2x700 MW) and Kudankulam Nuclear Power Projects (KKNPP) Units – 3&4 (2X1000 MW) with a total capacity of 3400 MW. These are being readied for start of construction in the current year," Singh said in a written reply to a query in the lower house of India's parliament.

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