The finance minister’s budget announcement of 100GW nuclear power generation by 2047 comes on the back of similar announcements in the past, that were never realised. Could this time be different?
Manpreet Sethi, scholar and researcher on nuclear issues, acknowledged that “the goals do look a bit ambitious. We are currently at about 8GW of electricity and to think that we could get to 22,000MW by 2031 and then to 100GW by 2047 does look ambitious.”
Answering questions on The Gist, Sethi hoped the government had a plan in mind because every time targets are set and not met, it only reinforces skepticism about the nuclear programme.
While India was the second Asian country to start operating a nuclear plant in the 1960s, circumstances conspired to retard progress. The peaceful nuclear test of 1974 saw the world cease all cooperation with India, nor was it possible to participate in nuclear commerce.
There was a lot of optimism after India and the US signed the civil nuclear deal but then India shot itself in the foot by enacting a stringent Nuclear Liability Law that put the onus on vendors in the event of a nuclear accident.
“The liability was made as strict as possible so that people would get compensation but we ended up creating more problems for private industry that wanted to be involved,” she noted. The government now plans to amend the Liability Law.
On the issue of the government setting a target of producing five small modular reactors by 2033, Sethi observed that “there are several safety, security, liability, regulatory issues that haven’t been resolved … again we have to look outside for technology collaboration of some kind.”
Although India has considerable design and fabrication expertise in 220MW reactors, these do not fit the category of small or modular and may need modification.
Sethi also cautioned that small reactors cannot meet India’s need for electricity. With the manufacturing sector all set to grow and expand, it needs vast amounts of power that can only be met by reactors of 700MW or 1000MW.
Currently, India is building 10 700MW reactors in “fleet mode”, thereby giving an assurance of predictability to private industry.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Manpreet Sethi, scholar and researcher on nuclear affairs.
