INDIAN ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

WATER RESOURCES

MINERALS

CONVENTIONAL ENERGY RESOURCES

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY RESOURCES

NUCLEAR ENERGY

LOCATIONAL FACTORS FOR MAJOR INDUSTRIES

INDUSTRIAL REGIONS

NUCLEAR ENERGY

INTRODUCTION • Nuclear energy is obtained from uranium and thorium. India has vast

untapped uranium resources and there is urgent need to make use of these resources if India really wants to get out of the present scenario of power shortages and energy crisis.

• Although nuclear power contributes a little over 3 per cent of our total power generation at present, it has vast potential for future development.

INTRODUCTION • India is one of the few countries which have developed the capability

of designing, constructing, commissioning and operating a nuclear power station without any help from outside.

• Most of the nuclear power stations in India have been constructed near sources of water because it is required in great quantity for cooling purposes.

INTRODUCTION • Nuclear power programme was initiated in 1940s when 'Tata Atomic

Research Commission' was incorporated in August, 1948. However, the real progress was made only after the establishment of the Atomic Energy Institution at Trombay in 1954. This was renamed as the 'Bhabha Atomic Research Centre' (BARC) in 1967.

INTRODUCTION • The first nuclear power station with 320 MW capacity was set up at

Tarapur near Mumbai in 1969.

• Later, atomic reactors were installed at Rawatbhata (300 MW) near Kota in Rajasthan, Kalpakkam (440 MW) in Tamil Nadu, and Narora in Uttar Pradesh.

• Kaiga in Karnataka and Kakarapara in Gujarat also have nuclear energy plants.

• Nuclear power plants are proposed to be set up at Kumharia (Haryana), Bargi (M.P.) Haripur (West Bengal), Jailapur (Maharashtra) Mithi Viridi (Gujarat) and Kovvada (Andhra Pradesh).

ATOMIC MINERALS

ATOMIC MINERALS • Uranium and Thorium are the main atomic minerals to which many

maybe added i.e., beryllium, lithium and zirconium.

ATOMIC MINERALS • Uranium

• Uranium deposits occur in Singhbhum and Hazaribagh districts of Jharkhand, Gaya district of Bihar, and in the sedimentary rocks in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

• But the largest source of uranium comprises the monazite sands.

• Monazite sands occur on east and west coasts and in some places in Bihar, but the largest concentration of monazite sand is on the Kerala coast.

ATOMIC MINERALS • Uranium

• Over 15,200 tonnes of uranium is estimated to be contained in monazite.

• Some uranium is found in the copper mines of Udaipur in Rajasthan.

• India produces about 2 per cent of world's uranium.

• The total reserves of uranium, as estimated by the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, are 30,480 tonnes.

ATOMIC MINERALS • Uranium in India

• India has no significant reserves of Uranium. All needs are met through imports.

• India imports thousands of tonnes of uranium from Russia, Kazakhstan and France.

ATOMIC MINERALS • Uranium in India

• India is trying hard to import uranium from Australia and Canada. There are some concerns regarding nuclear proliferation and other related issues which India is trying to sort out.

• Some quality reserves were recently discovered in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana between Seshachalam forest and Sresailam [Southern edge of Andhra to Southern edge of Telangana].

ATOMIC MINERALS

ATOMIC MINERALS • Thorium

• Thorium is estimated to be about three to four times more abundant than uranium in the Earth’s crust.

• Thorium is also derived from monazite. The other mineral carrying thorium is thorianite.

• India and Australia are believed to possess more than half of world’s thorium reserves.

• The known reserves of thorium in India are estimated to be between 457,000 and 508,000 tonnes. Kerala, Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan are the main producers.

ATOMIC MINERALS

ATOMIC MINERALS • Beryllium

• Beryllium oxide is used as a 'moderator' in nuclear reactors for atomic power generation.

• India has sufficient reserves of beryllium to meet her requirement of atomic power generation.

ATOMIC MINERALS • Lithium

• Lithium is a light metal which is found in lepidolite and spodumene.

• Lepidolite is widely distributed in the mica belts of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as well as in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh

ATOMIC MINERALS • Zirconium

• Zirconium is found along the Kerala coast and in alluvial rocks of Ranchi and Hazaribagh districts of Jharkhand.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME OF INDIA • A three stage Nuclear Power Programme was drafted by the

Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in 1954.

• It was formulated by Homi Bhabha.

• This programme aimed at meeting the growing demand for energy in the country by utilizing natural resources of uranium and thorium.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME OF INDIA • The programme involves

1. pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWREs) in the first stage,

2. fast breeder reactors (FBRs) in the second stage and

3. thorium-based advanced heavy water reactors (AHWRs) in the third stage.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME OF INDIA

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME OF INDIA • Development of technology relating to spent-fuel reprocessing, waste

management, safety and environment were also included in this programme.

• The Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) a public sector undertaking of the DAE is responsible for designing, constructing and operating the nuclear power stations in India.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-I • In the first stage of the programme, natural uranium fuelled

pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR) produce electricity while generating plutonium-239 as by-product.

U-238 → Plutonium-239 + Heat

Why U-238 and not U-235? Natural uranium contains only 0.7% of the fissile isotope uranium-235. Most of the remaining 99.3% is uranium-238 which is not fissile but can be converted in a reactor to the fissile isotope plutonium-239.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-I • In PWHR, enrichment of Uranium to improve concentration of U-235

is not required. U-238 can be directly fed into the reactor core.

• Heavy water (deuterium oxide, D2O) is used as moderator and coolant in PHWR.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-I • PHWRs was a natural choice for implementing the first stage because

it had the most efficient reactor design [uranium enrichment not required] in terms of uranium utilisation.

• Almost the entire existing base of Indian nuclear power (4780 MW) is composed of first stage PHWRs.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-II • This stage envisages setting up of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) heated

by reprocessing plants and plutonium based fuel fabrication plants.

• In the second stage, fast breeder reactors (FBRs) (moderators not required) would use plutonium-239, recovered by reprocessing spent fuel from the first stage, and natural uranium.

• In FBRs, plutonium-239 undergoes fission to produce energy, while the uranium-238 present in the fuel transmutes to additional plutonium-239.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-II • Thus, the Stage II FBRs are designed to “breed” more fuel than they

consume. Hence, they are known as breeder reactors.

• Once the inventory of plutonium-239 is built up thorium can be introduced as a blanket material in the reactor and transmuted to uranium-233 for use in the third stage.

Why should Uranium-238 be transmuted to Plutonium-239? Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 can sustain a chain reaction. But Uranium-238 cannot sustain a chain reaction. So it is transmuted to Plutonium-239.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-II • The surplus plutonium bred in each fast reactor can be used to set up

more such reactors, and might thus grow the Indian civil nuclear power capacity till the point where the third stage reactors using thorium as fuel can be brought online

• As of August 2014, India’s first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam had been delayed.

• To manage the FBRs programme, a new PSU named Bhartiya Nabhikaiya Vidhyut Nigam (BHAVIN) was set-up in 2003.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-III • This stage is concerned with setting up of thorium-based reactors and

associated fuel cycle facilities. Since thorium is only a fertile material, no reactor can be started using thorium directly as a fuel.

• Thorium is converted into uranium-233 through irradiation with neutrons in a reactor whether PHWR or FBR.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-III • A Stage III reactor or an Advanced nuclear power system involves a

self-sustaining series of thorium-232-uranium-233 fuelled reactors.

• This would be a thermal breeder reactor, which in principle can be refuelled – after its initial fuel charge – using only naturally occurring thorium.

• Large scale thorium deployment is only to be expected 3 – 4 decades after the commercial operation of fast breeder reactors. [2040-2070]

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME STAGE-III • As there is a long delay before direct thorium utilisation in the three-

stage programme, the country is now looking at reactor designs that allow more direct use of thorium in parallel with the sequential three-stage programme

• Three options under consideration are the Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS), Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) and Compact High Temperature Reactor

PRESENT STATE OF INDIA’S THREE-STAGE NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME

• After decades of operating pressurized heavy-water reactors (PHWR), India is finally ready to start the second stage.

• A 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam is set to achieve criticality any day now and four more fast breeder reactors have been sanctioned, two at the same site and two elsewhere.

• However, experts estimate that it would take India many more FBRs and at least another four decades before it has built up a sufficient fissile material inventory to launch the third stage.

NUCLEAR ENERGY: INDIA AND THE WORLD • It has already been mentioned that only a little over 3 per cent of

India's energy needs are met from nuclear sources. This is much less when compared with some of the developed and even the developing countries.

• For instance, France gets more than three-fourths of the energy from nuclear power and Sweden's 48% energy is received from nuclear sources.

NUCLEAR ENERGY: INDIA AND THE WORLD • The above description brings us to the conclusion that there is vast

scope for developing nuclear energy in India.

• However, nuclear energy development programme has to face very tough resistance from environmentalists and those who fear the occurrence of nuclear mishaps either due to natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones etc. or because of human failure.

NUCLEAR ENERGY: INDIA AND THE WORLD • Damage to Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan caused by

tsunami of March 11, 2011 is an eye opener.

• Several protests have been noticed against Jaitapur and Kudankulam nuclear power plants. These fears are not totally unfounded as several mishaps have taken place in different parts of the country.

NUCLEAR ENERGY: INDIA AND THE WORLD