The performance and
success of India’s nuclear power generation hinges on the import of
the fuel to a great extent. A steady supply of uranium is good news.
By the end of this
calendar year, nearly 3,000 metric tonnes (MT) of nuclear fuel is
likely to be shipped into India from three countries — the Russian
Federation, Canada and the Republic of Kazakhstan. The uranium
shipments expected in 2016 is a record for a single year and would,
in quantitative terms, amount to nearly 53 per cent of total nuclear
fuel imported into India since the country’s access to the global
nuclear fuel market opened up in 2008.
Till now, about
5,559 MT has come into the country from these three nations,
alongside France, while 2,937 MT is the anticipated supplies of
nuclear fuel in the form of natural uranium ore concentrate and
natural uranium oxide pellets during calendar year 2016. In India,
there are currently 21 reactors with an installed capacity of 5,780
MWe (mega watt electrical), of which, eight reactors with aggregate
capacity of 2,400 MWe are fuelled by indigenous uranium while the
remaining 13 with a capacity of 3,380 MWe are under International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safeguards and use imported uranium. The
second unit of the Kudankulam nuclear project (1,000 MWe Unit-2) has
also attained first criticality (start of controlled self-sustaining
nuclear fission chain reaction in the reactor for the first time) on
July 10, 2016, which also uses imported fuel.
A steady supply of
uranium is good news for the country’s nuclear power sector,
something that is expected to push up the performance of Indian
nuclear power plants, as well as of the several fuel cycle
facilities. The capacity factor — or operational efficiency — of
the 21 nuclear power reactors currently running in the country was
recorded at 73 per cent in the first three months of the current
fiscal (April-June 2016). This includes the operational data for the
first unit of the Kudankulam power project.
An improvement in
gross nuclear generation in the coming months could be powered by a
combination of two factors: international cooperation leading to
augmentation of fuel supplies to 13 reactors that qualify for
imported fuel, and a commensurate improvement in domestic fuel
supplies for the other eight. Under the “separation plan”
announced by the government in March 2006, negotiated after the July
2005 nuclear deal with the US, India was required to bring 14
reactors under IAEA Safeguards in a phased manner. Thirteen of these
reactors — including RAPS 2 to 6 at Rawatbhata, Rajasthan, KAPS 1
and 2 at Kakrapar, Gujarat, NAPS 1 and 2 at Narora, Uttar Pradesh,
TAPS 1 and 2 at Tarapur, Maharashtra, Kudankulam 1 in Tamil Nadu —
are already under IAEA safeguards, and eligible to run on imported
fuel. They are now operating at close to full capacity, officials of
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), which runs the
country’s nuclear power plants, said. The other reactors — KGS 1
to 4 at Kaiga, Karnataka, MAPS 1 and 2 at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, and
TAPS 3 and 4 at Tarapur, Maharashtra — continue to use uranium
sourced within the country.
Official sources
said that the Department of Atomic Energy reckons the annual fuel
need for operating the indigenous pressurised heavy water reactors
(PHWRs) at 85 per cent capacity is about 45 tonnes of uranium dioxide
for the older 220 MWe units, 100 tonnes for the 540 MWe units and 125
tonnes for the new 700 MWe units. By contrast, the need of low
enriched uranium for operating imported light water reactors (LWRs)
at 85 per cent capacity factor are six tonnes for the older 160 MWe
Tarapur units and 27 tonnes for 1,000 MWe units such as the twin
Russian-built VVER-1000 reactor units at Kudankulam.
The total installed
capacity is scheduled to go up to 9,980 MWe at the end of the current
five-year plan period (March 2017), as seven new reactors are
commissioned. These include the imported LWRs of Russian design, four
indigenous PHWRs, and one indigenous prototype fast breeder reactor
(PFBR).
NPCIL had planned to
start work on 16 new reactors with a total capacity of 16,100 MWe
during the Twelfth Plan (2012-17). These included eight indigenous
PHWRs of 700 MWe each with a total capacity of 5,600 MWe and eight
LWRs based on international cooperation — with Russia, France and
the US — totaling to a capacity of 10,500 MWe.
JSC TVEL
Corporation, Russia
Date of Contract:
11.02.2009
Total Quantity to be
procured: 2000 MT of Natural Uranium Oxide Pellets.
Total Quantity
received: 1813 MT
Anticipated delivery
in 2016: 187 MT
Status: The fuel is
being procured through the Annual Supplements to the Contract, which
concludes with the import of 187 MT of Pellets.
Date of Contract:
11.02.2009
Quantity to be
procured: 58 MT of Enriched Uranium Oxide Pellets..
Total Quantity
received: 58.30 MT
Anticipated delivery
in 2016: Nil
Status: The Contract
concluded with one-time supply of the fuel during 2009.
Date of Contract:
03.03.2015
Quantity to be
procured: 42 MT of Enriched Uranium Oxide Pellets.
Total Quantity
received: 42.15 MT
Anticipated delivery
in 2016: Nil
Status: The Contract
concluded with one-time supply of the fuel during 2015
JSC NAC KazatomProm,
Kazakhstan
Date of Contract:
12.11.2009
Quantity to be
procured: 2100 MT of Natural Uranium Ore Concentrate.
Total Quantity
received: 2095.9 MT
Anticipated delivery
in 2016:Nil
Status: The Contract
concluded during 2014.
Date of Contract:
08.07.2015
Quantity to be
procured: The Contract permits procurement of a minimum of 3750 MT
and maximum 7000 MT of Natural Uranium Ore Concentrate.
Total Quantity
received: 999.807 MT
Anticipated delivery
in 2016:1500 MT
Status: The material
is to be procured during 2015–2019.
AREVA, France
Date of
Contract:17.12.2008
Total Quantity to be
procured:300 MT of Natural Uranium Ore Concentrate.
Total Quantity
received: 299.88 MT
Anticipated delivery
in 2016: Nil
Status: The contract
with Areva concluded with a one-time supply of the fuel during 2009.
Cameco, Canada
Date of Contract:
15.04.2015
Total Quantity to be
procured: The Contract permits procurement of a minimum of 2750 MT
and maximum 5500 MT of Natural Uranium Ore Concentrate
Total Quantity
received: 250.74 MT
Anticipated delivery
in 2016: 1,250 MT
Status: The nuclear
fuel is to be procured during 2015–2020.
(Source: DAE)
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