Nuclear reactor units perk up on uranium imports

Nuclear generation in reactor units fuelled by uranium imports from Russia and France are beginning to perk up after a long hiatus.Two units of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd's Tarapur Atomic Power Station and one reactor at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) reported a capacity factor of over 90 per cent during April to June this fiscal, while a fourth RAPS unit was operating at well over 70 per cent.

The capacity factor of a power plant is the ratio of the actual output of a power plant over a period of time and its output if it had operated at full capacity the entire time.

In all, there are 19 nuclear power reactors with a capacity of 4,560 MW in operation in the country. Out of these, currently six reactors of 1,060 MWe are under international safeguards and hence, qualify for the use of imported uranium. The remaining nuclear power reactors are fuelled by domestic uranium and are operated at lower power levels to match the fuel availability, resulting in lower average operational efficiency.

As a result, the overall operational efficiency of India's installed nuclear capacity went up only marginally to 53 per cent load factor during the period, from 47 per cent during April-June 2009, according to data from the Central Electricity Authority.

Nuclear fuel supplies from Areva of France are used for the RAPS units and supplies from Russia's state-owned nuclear fuel monopoly TVEL Corporation are utilised at Tarapur.

Areva had, in December 2008, signed a pact to offer 300 tonnes for India's existing Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors. TVEL Corporation has inked a deal to deliver 2,000 tonnes of uranium pellets to India under the protocol on fuel supplies finalised with Russia. Under the deal, TVEL would deliver low-enriched uranium supplies worth over $700 million to India, including uranium dioxide pellets for Tarapur.

The Department of Atomic Energy is also holding talks on uranium supplies with Canada, Kazakhstan, and some African countries for imports in the future. Under the ‘Separation Plan' announced by the Government in March 2006, negotiated pursuant to the July 2005 civil nuclear agreement with the US, India has to place a total of 14 reactors under IAEA safeguards by 2014 in a phased manner.

Apart from the six units under safeguards at present, other N-reactors that would come under IAEA safeguards include Units 3 and 4 of RAPS by later this year; two units of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in 2012 and two units of Narora Atomic Power Station in 2014. According to official sources, as and when larger existing units come under safeguards, the diversion of domestic uranium used currently for these reactors to the remaining unsafeguarded reactors should lead to an improvement in overall nuclear performance.

The first two reactor units of the Koodankulam Atomic Power station, scheduled for commissioning later this year and early next year, have already been brought under the safeguards umbrella.