Mumbai: India`s nuclear power share is
projected to be almost 25 per cent of the country`s total
energy produced by 2050 with most of it coming from fast
breeder reactors, a top nuclear scientist has said.
"India`s N-power share will be almost 25 per cent by
2050, which comes mainly from fast breeder reactors (FBRs),
particularly, from sodium cooled fast reactors (SFR)," Dr
Baldev Raj, distinguished scientist and Director, Indira
Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) said.
Successful operation of 40 MW (thermal) equivalent to
13 MW (electric) capacity fast breeder test reactor (FBTR)
over 25 years, construction of 500 MW prototype fast breeder
reactor (to be commissioned in 2011), will make fast breeder
reactors as most essential and inevitable for the realisation
of nuclear contribution projected in India, Raj said.
"A systematic road map has been conceived towards
gradual introduction of FBRs to generate about 3.5 GW in 2023.
"Metallic fuel is planned to be introduced through
1000 MW units beyond 2025," he said, speaking at the national
conference on `Advances in Nuclear Technology` organised by
the DAE and Indian national Academy of Engineering.
It is envisaged that six more such units, similar to
PFBR, will be commissioned by the year 2023. Subsequently, a
series of 1000 MW metallic core FBRs would be constructed to
realise the nuclear contributions completely, he said.
The fast breeder class of reactors are under the
Public sector undertaking Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd
(BHAVINI), a sister firm of Nuclear Power Corporation of India
limited (NPCIL).
"To achieve this mission, the challenges in SFR
technology have been brought out. The operating experiences of
FBTR, design and construction experiences of PFBR, R&D outputs
and well planned R&D activities are being carried out for
future SFRs to achieve targeted economy and safety," Raj said.
These provide high confidence on fulfilling the
mission of SFR development. SFR will be an inevitable option,
at least up to 2050, he said.
"Establishing techno-economic viability through sodium
fast reactors with mixed uranium plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel
and closed fuel cycle, design for long life nuclear reactors
(100 years), significant reduction of capital cost and fuel
cycle cost, metallic fuel with high breeding to achieve
shorter doubling time, construction of a series of large size
reactors (1000 MWe) with co-located fuel cycle facilities are
some of the calibrated priorities for India," he said.
Beyond 2050, other potential options such as renewable
energy, especially for distributed energy resources, thorium
based technology, fusion technology, economical and
sustainable hydrogen based systems are likely to emerge, the
scientist said.
PTI
