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BPSC Mains GS-2 Masterclass · Science & Technology

Nuclear Energy in IndiaFission, Three Stages, Facts & Fears

Nuclear power splits atoms to make electricity without burning coal. This page explains how a reactor works, India's reactors and Homi Bhabha's three-stage plan to use thorium, whether nuclear power can end the power crisis, how civil and military uses are linked, and the full case for and against.

India22Reactors in operation

in 7 nuclear power plants.

Capacity6,780 MWInstalled capacity

1.9% of India's total.

Thorium~25%World thorium reserves

but only 1–2% of uranium.

Programme3 stagesBhabha's plan

PHWR, fast breeder, thorium.

History1948Atomic Energy Commission

set up; BARC named in 1967.

Bihar₹70,000 crNawada, Bihar

two reactors offered by NPCIL.

Part 1 · What is nuclear energy?

Nuclear Energy and How a Reactor Works

Nuclear power uses the heat released by splitting atoms to run steam turbines. This part explains fission, the chain reaction and the parts of a nuclear power plant.

Illustration of a nuclear power station by the sea, with a reactor dome, turbine hall and cooling tower

Nuclear energy

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat, which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plant.

Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions.

Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium.

Nuclear power station

Just as many conventional thermal power stations generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from burning fossil fuels, nuclear power plants convert the energy released from the nucleus of an atom via nuclear fission that takes place in a nuclear reactor.
When a neutron hits the nucleus of a uranium-235 or plutonium atom, it can split the nucleus into two smaller nuclei. The reaction is called nuclear fission.
The fission reaction releases energy and neutrons. The released neutrons can hit other uranium or plutonium nuclei, causing new fission reactions, which release more energy and more neutrons. This is called a chain reaction.
Example: Think of a crowd of mousetraps loaded with ping-pong balls: one ball sets off a trap, which throws two more balls, which set off more traps. Control rods are like a net that catches extra balls, so the reaction runs at a steady rate instead of racing away.
The reaction rate is controlled by control rods that absorb excess neutrons.
- The controllability of nuclear reactors depends on the fact that a small fraction of neutrons resulting from fission are delayed.

A fission nuclear power plant is generally composed of

1
Nuclear reactor
in which the nuclear reactions generating heat take place;
2
Cooling system
which removes the heat from inside the reactor;
3
Steam turbine
which transforms the heat into mechanical energy;
4
Electric generator
which transforms the mechanical energy into electrical energy.

Part 2 · Some facts

Nuclear Power in the World, India and Bihar

Where nuclear power stands globally, how India's programme began, the reactors it runs today and the plan for Bihar.

Globally

Globally, there are 440+ civilian fission reactors in the world, with a combined electrical capacity of 395 gigawatt (GW).
- It represents about 10% of global electricity generation.
The United States has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors, generating over 800 TWh zero-emissions electricity per year.

Nuclear power sector in India

Uranium deposits occur in the Dharwar rocks. Geographically, uranium ores are known to occur in several locations along the Singbhum Copper belt.
Atomic Energy Commission was established in 1948, but progress could be made only after the establishment of the Atomic Energy Institute at Trombay in 1954 which was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1967.
India has 22 nuclear reactors in operation in 7 nuclear power plants, with a total installed capacity of 6,780 MW (1.9% of total installed capacity 370,348 MW).
- Reactors under construction in India are in Kakrapar and Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu.
The Indian government is committed to growing its nuclear power capacity as part of its massive infrastructure development programme.
Because India is outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its weapons programme, it was for 34 years largely excluded from trade in nuclear plant and materials, which hampered its development of civil nuclear energy until 2009.
Apsara-U is the indigenously made upgraded version of “Apsara”, the first research reactor in Asia which had become operational in 1956 and was shut down in 2009.
- It uses plate type dispersion fuel elements made of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU).

Important nuclear reactors operating in India

The important nuclear reactors operating in India are:

Reactor site	State
Tarapur	Maharashtra
Rawatbhata, near Kota	Rajasthan
Kalpakkam	Tamil Nadu
Narora	Uttar Pradesh
Kaiga	Karnataka
Kakrapar	Gujarat

In Bihar

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited has offered to establish two nuclear power reactors in Nawada district in Bihar at an estimated cost of Rs 70,000 crore. The state government has earmarked 1,000 acres of land for the central government enterprise.

Part 3 · Phases of India's nuclear energy programme

India's Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme

Homi Bhabha's plan to move from India's scarce uranium to its vast thorium reserves, with each stage producing the fuel for the next.

Bhabha's plan

India's three-stage nuclear power programme was formulated by Homi Bhabha in the 1950s to secure the country's long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands of coastal regions of South India.

The ultimate focus of the programme is on enabling the thorium reserves of India to be utilised in meeting the country's energy requirements.

Why thorium?

Thorium is particularly attractive for India, as it has only around 1–2% of the global uranium reserves, but one of the largest shares of global thorium reserves at about 25% of the world's known thorium reserves.

However, thorium is more difficult to use than uranium as a fuel because it requires breeding, and global uranium prices remain low enough that breeding is not cost effective.

End of isolation

The 2005 Indo–US Nuclear Deal and the NSG waiver, which ended more than three decades of international isolation of the Indian civil nuclear programme, have created many hitherto unexplored alternatives for the success of the three-stage nuclear power programme.

India's three-stage nuclear programme

Homi Bhabha envisioned India's nuclear power programme in three stages to suit the country's low uranium resource profile.

Stage 1
Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR)
Heavy water reactors fuelled by natural uranium produce plutonium.
Fuel:
Natural uranium
Output:
Electricity
Potential:
10 GWe·40 y at 0.8 capacity factor
Passes on: Plutonium + depleted uranium
Plutonium + depleted uranium
Stage 2
Plutonium-fuelled Fast Breeders
Fuelled by a mix of plutonium and natural uranium. With sufficient stocks, thorium is introduced to convert it into U-233.
Fuel:
Plutonium and natural uranium; thorium added
Output:
Electricity
Potential:
500 GWe·100 y at 0.8 capacity factor
Passes on: Uranium-233
Uranium-233
Stage 3
U-233-fuelled Breeders
Mix of thorium and uranium fuels the reactors. Thorium transmutes to U-233, which powers the reactor.
Fuel:
Thorium and uranium-233
Output:
Electricity
Potential:
500 GWe·350 y at 0.8 capacity factor

Example: A GWe-year is the electricity a 1,000 MW plant makes in one year. So '10 GWe·40 y' means India's uranium can run about 10 GW of PHWRs for 40 years, while thorium, through stages 2 and 3, can run 500 GW for centuries. That gap is the whole reason for the three stages.

Stage 1 – Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR):

PHWRs are fuelled by natural uranium, and light water reactors, which produce plutonium incidentally to their prime purpose of electricity generation.
- Natural uranium has 0.711% uranium-235 (fissile isotope), 99.284% uranium-238 (not fissile), and a trace of uranium-234 by weight.
Heavy water (D2O) is used as moderator and coolant.
U-238 → Plutonium-239 + Heat
PHWRs were a natural choice for implementing the first stage because it had the most efficient reactor design in terms of uranium utilisation, and the existing Indian infrastructure in the 1960s allowed for quick adoption of the PHWR technology.
- India correctly calculated that it would be easier to create heavy water production facilities (required for PHWRs) than uranium enrichment facilities (required for LWRs).
- Indian uranium reserves are capable of generating a total power capacity of 420 GWe-years, but the Indian government limited the number of PHWRs fueled exclusively by indigenous uranium reserves, in an attempt to ensure that existing plants get a lifetime supply of uranium.

According to the three-stage programme

Indian nuclear energy could grow to about 10 GW through PHWRs fueled by domestic uranium, and
The growth above that would have to come from FBRs till about 50GW.
The third stage is to be deployed only after this capacity has been achieved.
As there is a long delay before direct thorium utilisation in the three-stage programme, the country is looking at reactor designs that allow more direct use of thorium in parallel with the sequential three-stage programme.
- e.g. Indian Accelerator Driven Systems, Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) and Compact High Temperature Reactor.

Part 4 · Can nuclear power plants solve the Indian power crisis?

Can Nuclear Power Solve India's Power Crisis?

Official projections promise a large nuclear share by mid-century, built on thorium, but past predictions fell far short of what was actually built.

Share in the energy mix

The Integrated Energy Policy of India estimates the share of nuclear power in the total primary energy mix to be between 4% to 6.4% in various scenarios by the year 2031–32.
A study by the DAE, estimates that the nuclear energy share will be about 8.6% by the year 2032 and 16.6% by the year 2052.
- Currently, it is just 1.9%.
The possible nuclear power capacity beyond the year 2020 has been estimated by DAE as follows:

DAE estimate · pessimistic (GWe)

By 203048 GWe
By 2040104 GWe
By 2050208 GWe

DAE estimate · optimistic (GWe)

By 203063 GWe
By 2040131 GWe
By 2050275 GWe

The long-term promise of thorium

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated in 2009 that the nation could generate up to 470 GW of power by 2050 if it managed the three-stage program well.
According to plan, 30% of the Indian electricity in 2050 will be generated from thorium-based reactors.
Indian nuclear scientists estimate that the country could produce 500 GWe for at least four centuries using just the country's economically extractable thorium reserves.
According to the Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, without the implementation of fast breeders the presently available uranium reserves of 5.469 million tonnes can support 570 GWe till 2025.
- If the total identified and undiscovered uranium reserves of 16 million tonnes are brought online, the power availability can be extended till the end of the century.

“This will sharply reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and will be a major contribution to global efforts to combat climate change.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 2009, on the three-stage programme

Predictions versus reality

However, earlier too, on the basis of the three-stage plan and assuming optimistic development times, some extravagant predictions about nuclear power have been made over the years. As the years progressed, these predictions were to increase. All of this was before a single unit of nuclear electricity was produced in the country.

Prediction	Predicted by	Target year	Reality
8,000 MW of nuclear power	Bhabha	by 1980	about 600 MW installed in 1979–80
20,000–25,000 MW	By 1962	by 1987	about 950 MW in 1987
43,500 MW of nuclear generating capacity	The AEC, by 1969	by 2000	2,720 MW in 2000

Reality was quite different. Currently it is about 6,700 MW.

Part 6 · Arguments for nuclear energy / nuclear power plants

The Case for Nuclear Power

A strong safety record per unit of energy, low carbon, round-the-clock supply, energy security and diplomatic weight.

Safety record and climate

Nuclear power has one of the lowest levels of fatalities per unit of energy generated compared to other energy sources. Coal, petroleum, natural gas and hydroelectricity each have caused more fatalities per unit of energy due to air pollution and accidents.
Nuclear power in India is the fourth-largest source of electricity after thermal, hydroelectric, and renewable sources (of electricity).
Emissions-free technology to supplement growing renewable energy production.
- Proponents, such as the World Nuclear Association and Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy, contend that nuclear power is a safe, sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions.
According the World Nuclear Association, there have been eleven “serious nuclear reactor accidents” since the inception of nuclear power, with six occurring at commercial reactors between 1975 and 2011.
- These accidents happened with few or no immediate deaths – comparatively coal, gas, hydroelectric, and oil accidents can result in hundreds of deaths per year, the association notes.
- Nuclear power generation per watt is responsible for fewer deaths than other types of power.
- Since its commercialization in the 1970s, nuclear power has prevented about 1.84 million air pollution-related deaths and the emission of about 64 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent that would have otherwise resulted from the burning of fossil fuels.
Civilian nuclear power supplied 2,563 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2018, equivalent to about 10% of global electricity generation, and was the second largest low-carbon power source after hydroelectricity.
Many countries with growing economies and middle classes are looking at ways to access reliable and diverse electricity production.
- With fossil fuel use increasingly less attractive because of climate change, nuclear energy – which has a very small carbon footprint – has gained new attention.
The World Nuclear Association says the Western industry has employed “a defense-in-depth approach,” with multiple safety systems, including:
- “high-quality” design and construction; comprehensive monitoring and regular testing; and redundant systems to prevent significant radioactive releases.
- Overall, the industry argues it has worked hard to make nuclear power safe, and newer reactors have safety features that overcome some of the problems that led to radiation releases at Fukushima and Chernobyl, including better shielding and passive cooling systems.

Why nuclear power matters for India

Energy security

Nuclear security is an important component of achieving energy security. Nuclear energy has the potential to provide a large scale of electricity generation that itself would help lift the standard of living for millions of population.

Less impact on climate

Nuclear reactors do not produce greenhouse gases like power plants using coal and, therefore, can increase electricity generation without contributing to climate change.

Replacing conventional energy resources

Increased share of nuclear power in the Indian energy mix will help diminish the reliance on fossil fuels and it will replace conventional coal based energy plants.

Continuous supply of electricity

They can provide a steady supply of electricity because unlike solar and wind power sources, nuclear plants can operate when there is no sun or wind and are not affected by fluctuations in water availability like hydroelectric plants.

Nuclear energy and foreign policy nexus

Nuclear energy plays a substantial role in the formation of bilateral relations among nations. For example, the 2008 Indo-US nuclear agreement did not just support India's domestic power plants but strengthened Indo-US bilateral relations while giving India the recognition of being a responsible nuclear weapon state with strong non-proliferation credentials.

Part 7 · Arguments against: safety

Accidents, Waste and Security: The Safety Case Against

Chernobyl and Fukushima changed how the world sees nuclear power; meltdowns, waste, natural disasters and proliferation remain open questions.

The Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union in 1986:

It involved a huge explosion. This event spewed radiation enough for four hundred Hiroshima-sized bombs.
The number of related deaths from Chernobyl remains in dispute, ranging from as low as four thousand to as high as five hundred thousand.
As a result, plans for new plants were shelved across the globe and many politicians, particularly in Europe, pushed to phase out nuclear power.
That changed over the last decade, though, with a renewed interest in nuclear power. Two factors helped create this so-called “nuclear renaissance” – emerging-market energy demand and climate change.

Nuclear power must address significant safety issues

Meltdowns and accidents

Human error is considered largely responsible for the 1979 Three-Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania, and design flaws triggered the Chernobyl explosion.

Nuclear waste

Consumed fuel rods from nuclear plants are radioactive waste.
Short- and long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel has been a challenge for the industry and policymakers.
- Spent fuel, if not disposed of properly, could contaminate water supplies or be used by terrorists to create a dirty bomb.
In the short-term, spent fuel is stored in pools on-site – but they only need to stay there a few months until they are cool enough to move to dry storage (either on site or in a long-term storage facility).
Efforts to reprocess nuclear waste are expensive and come with associated environmental and security risks.
- Yet a growing number of countries – including Japan and Russia – have begun fuel recycling projects.

Natural disasters

The earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima plant has some questioning the sensibility of locating plants in seismically active regions, with some environmental advocates calling for new seismic studies before any older plants are re-licensed.
One climate advocate warns that sea level rise resulting from climate change also needs to be taken into consideration.

Security issues

Most countries either pursuing nuclear power or currently using it have signed on to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and have agreed to comply with rules that ensure that they will not use nuclear technologies toward making weapons.
- However, any country with nuclear technology is considered a proliferation risk.

The opponents' view

Nuclear power opponents, such as Greenpeace and NIRS, contend that nuclear power poses many threats to people and the environment.
- Wasting yet more time and money, too expensive, too risky.
Even with improved safety features, new reactor types still face questions – such as how well they withstand earthquakes – and industry assurances about new reactors don't address concerns about older reactors.
Human error makes a future meltdown possible no matter how well a plant is designed.
- Inadequate training, faulty maintenance, and failure to investigate problems thoroughly etc.

Part 8 · Arguments against: cost, emissions and society

Cost, Delays, Emissions and Public Opposition

Nuclear power's biggest impediment is economic; mining risks, low-grade ore, local protests, a shortage of experts and liability law add to the challenges.

Economics: slow and costly

Nuclear power's biggest impediment is economic. Projects are expensive and slow-developing, with a number of basic logistical hurdles that make them less competitive than other types of energy.
Long time lag between planning and operation:
- includes the times to identify a site, obtain a site permit, purchase or lease the land, obtain a construction permit, obtain financing and insurance for construction, install transmission, negotiate a power purchase agreement, obtain permits, build the plant, connect it to transmission, and obtain a final operating license.
- The planning-to-operation (PTO) times of all nuclear plants ever built have been 10-19 years or more.
Cost:
- The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for a new nuclear plant in 2018 is $151 (112 to 189)/MWh. This compares with $43 (29 to 56)/MWh for onshore wind and $41 (36 to 46)/MWh for utility-scale solar PV from the same source.
Example: LCOE is the average cost of one unit of electricity over a plant's whole life, counting construction, fuel, running costs and interest. It lets a reactor, a wind farm and a solar park be compared on the same scale.

Levelized cost of energy, 2018 ($/MWh)

New nuclear151 $/MWh
Onshore wind43 $/MWh
Utility-scale solar PV41 $/MWh

Mid-point values; the ranges are given in the text.

This nuclear LCOE is an underestimate for several reasons

It assumes a construction time for nuclear of 5.75 years. But actually it takes much more time.
The LCOE does not include the cost of the major nuclear meltdowns in history, e.g. cost to clean up the damage.
The LCOE does not include the cost of storing nuclear waste for hundreds of thousands of years.

Mining, emissions and subsidies

Uranium mining and ore

Mining lung cancer risk: Uranium mining causes lung cancer in large numbers of miners because uranium mines contain natural radon gas, some of whose decay products are carcinogenic.
Uranium contamination of ground water due to mining: Recently, a study has found uranium contamination in groundwater from aquifers in 16 Indian states. For example most of the wells tested in Rajasthan and Gujarat had more uranium than the WHO's recommended limit of 30 µg/L.
Purity of Uranium: In comparison to world occurrences, uranium deposits established in India are mostly of low-grade (less than 0.15 per cent U).

Not zero-emission

There is no such thing as a zero- or close-to-zero emission nuclear power plant. Even existing plants emit due to the continuous mining and refining of uranium needed for the plant.
- Emissions from new nuclear are 78 to 178 g-CO2/kWh, not close to 0. Of this, 64 to 102 g-CO2/kWh over 100 years are emissions from the background grid while consumers wait 10 to 19 years for nuclear to come online or be refurbished, relative to 2 to 5 years for wind or solar.
- In addition, all nuclear plants emit 4.4 g-CO2e/kWh from the water vapor and heat they release.
Nuclear advocates claim nuclear is still needed because renewables are intermittent and need natural gas for backup. However, nuclear itself never matches power demand so it needs backup.

Costly plants and subsidies

Many existing nuclear plants are so costly that their owners are demanding subsidies to stay open.
- For example, in 2016, three existing upstate New York nuclear plants requested and received subsidies to stay open using the argument that the plants were needed to keep emissions low.
- However, subsidizing such plants may increase carbon emissions and costs relative to replacing the plants with wind or solar as soon as possible.
- Thus, subsidizing nuclear would result in higher emissions and costs over the long term than replacing nuclear with renewables.

People, skills and law

Anti-nuclear protests: Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, populations around proposed Indian Nuclear power plant sites have launched protests. E.g. Protests in Jaitapur (Maharashtra), Mithi Virdi (Gujarat), Kovvada (Andhra Pradesh), Haripur (West Bengal).
- As with power plants, local people are also becoming restive about uranium mining and milling.
- While the largest vein deposits in Singhbhum and Jaduguda are older projects and had the benefit of common people not knowing their implications, recent projects in Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have faced people's ire resulting in disastrous delays and cost-overruns.
- Sometimes foreign NGOs are involved in protests.
- Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed foreign NGOs for protests at the Kudankulam power plant.
Manpower needs: To scale up nuclear energy in India, human resource for nuclear engineering is paramount. India currently faces a shortfall in nuclear scientists and engineers.
Fear and anxiety among the people living near Nuclear power plant.
A fundamental incompatibility between India's civil liability law and international conventions limits foreign technology provision.
Other Issues: Factors such as problems on land acquisition, rehabilitation/resettlement of affected persons, reserve forest/tiger sanctuary locations, socio-political issues, public consensus, etc. also influence the decisions on mining and exploitation of established uranium and thorium resources in the country.

Way forward

Certain steps need to be taken to ensure the safety and security of using nuclear power, e.g.:

Ensure maintenance of the skills base.
Maintain continued effective safety regulation.
Foster progress on facilities for waste disposal and management; this must be given serious consideration.
Maintain and reinforce international non-proliferation arrangements.

“Nuclear energy has the potential to provide a large scale of electricity generation that itself would help lift the standard of living for millions of population.”

— BPSC Mains answer · Nuclear energy

Curated for BPSC, UPSC & State PCS Civil Services Aspirants | Science & Technology Master Module

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