Russian Enriched Uranium Arrives as India Targets 20,000 Megawatts of Nuclear Capacity

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--India has received its first consignment of low-enriched uranium fuel from the Russian federation as part of supply for unit 1 of the Kundankulam nuclear power project, an ongoing $3 billion initiative at Kundankulam, Radhapuram, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The consignment arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala early last week. The fully fabricated fuel rods will be loaded into the first unit as initial charge for the reactor in November 2008.

The project was originally launched through a bilateral agreement between India and the old USSR. Two VVER-1000 Russian reactors are under construction at Kundankulam, each of which will generate 1,000 megawatts (MW) using low-enriched uranium as fuel and light water as moderator and coolant. The VVER family of reactors is based on the pressurized light water reactor technology, which is used globally by several reactors that use low-enriched uranium as fuel. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) (Mumbai) is responsible for all civil and electrical work related to the project. The Russian Federation will provide the reactor design, equipment, accessories and components, including the reactor pressure vessel, nuclear steam supply systems, generators, turbines and the core-catcher.

The commissioning of the first reactor has slipped 18 months behind schedule. Although 86% of the first unit's construction has been completed, NPCIL officials have not disclosed a deadline for its commissioning, The Hindu reported. The second unit will be commissioned six months after the first unit. In February 2008, the two nations signed an agreement to build four additional Russian reactors -- units 3, 4, 5 and 6 -- at the site.

Russia has deployed a team of specialists at Kundankulam to render technical assistance during construction, installation of equipment, and commissioning and operation of the reactors until the final takeover by NPCIL. The project comes under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna, Austria), whose officials will undertake periodic inspection of the plant to check for diversion of fissile material from the site for the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

The project, which was first initiated in November 1988, has a checkered history. India and the former Soviet Union had signed an intergovernmental agreement to set up two VVER-1000 units in Kundankulam. The Kundankulam project was to be a turnkey project with the Soviet Union furnishing the design, equipment and fuel, as well as undertaking construction of the reactors. The spent fuel was also to be taken back to the Soviet Union. However, the initiative proved to be a non-starter because of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and differences over the ruble-rupee payment ratio.

The project was revived a decade later in 1998 when the two countries signed a supplementary agreement to the intergovernmental agreement, with the terms of contract differing radically from the original agreement. Under the new agreement, Russia provides the reactor designs and the equipment. Responsibility for construction now resides with NPCIL. India will retain and reprocess the spent fuel. Russia has committed to supplying fuel for the entire life of the reactors through a sovereign guarantee. This clause was incorporated subsequent to India's experience with the U.S. during the Tarapur atomic power station project when the U.S. terminated the agreement to supply fuel to the reactors.

Under an indigenous nuclear power program, India is set to achieve a nuclear capacity of 20,000 MW online by 2020, though this is largely subject to an opening of international trade. The country aims to ramp up its nuclear power production to meet 25% of its power requirements by 2050.

In July 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a landmark deal permitting the U.S. to sell civilian nuclear technology to India even though India had not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The amendment to Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 overturned a 30-year-old ban imposed by the U.S. on supplying nuclear fuel and technology to India when the latter conducted its first nuclear test in 1974. However, this amendment has come under severe criticism since it undermines the treaty, which states that civilian nuclear assistance can be given only to countries that renounce nuclear weapons. The agreement has to be approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency and receive unconditional exemption from rules established by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers' Group.

In its attempt to swiftly seal the deal, India's coalition government finds itself caught between pressure from the U.S. to close the deal and domestic opposition to the agreement from its left-wing allies. The left parties view the deal as a tactic to drag India into a strategic orbit of the U.S. in addition to harboring reservations about the economic feasibility of electricity fueled by nuclear power. With the Congress and the left parties unable to reconcile their differences, the survival of the United Progressive Alliance is at stake. It is likely that further negotiations on the deal will be stalled until August, after which the advent of a new American administration will cause further delays in any progress on the deal.

Lack of indigenous uranium has driven the country to exploit its thorium reserves to develop a nuclear fuel cycle. The unavailability of natural uranium fuel has stalled the commissioning of the fourth unit of 202 MW capacity of the Kaiga atomic power project in Karnataka and the fifth reactor of 202 MW of the Rajasthan atomic power project in Rawatbhatta. Both of these plants are being constructed by NPCIL.

NPCIL is also reportedly evaluating a site at Pati Sonapur in Orissa for setting up 6,000 MW of nuclear capacity. It further plans to invest $2.5 billion in the construction of a proposed 1,600 MW plant at Kumaharia, Haryana, which will be commissioned by 2012. National Thermal Power Corporation (New Delhi) has also proposed setting up a 2,000 MW plant, which will be operational by 2014. The government has set up BHAVINI, an enterprise to focus on fast breeder reactors (FBR). BHAVINI has undertaken construction of a 500 MW prototype FBR at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. Between 2010 and 2020, India's gross nuclear power capacity is expected to grow to 21,180 MW.

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