The Integrated Energy Policy of the Government of India aims at ensuring in a judicious manner adequate energy supplies at an optimum cost, achieving self-sufficiency in energy supplies and protecting the environment from the adverse impact of utilizing energy resources. The main elements of the Energy Policy are:

1. Accelerated exploitation of all domestic conventional energy sources, viz. coal, hydro, oil/gas and nuclear power in an environmentally sustainable manner;

2. Energy conservation and Management with a view to increasing energy productivity;

3. Optimizing the utilisation of existing capacity in the country by using high efficiency machines and processes in the entire gamut of energy related operations like mining, generation, transmission, industrial processes, transport, etc;

4. Adoption of ‘clean coal’ and related technologies to contain GHG emissions;

5. Accelerated development of nuclear and hydro-electricity;

6. Development and exploitation of renewable sources of energy including bio-fuels and fuel plantations to meet the energy requirement of both urban and rural communities;

7. Intensification of research and development activities in the field of energy, with infusion of sufficient capital by setting up a "National Energy Fund";

8. Organisation of training for the personnel engaged at various levels in the energy sector.

The energy resources are unevenly distributed in the country and are mainly used for power generation, transport and industrial and domestic uses. Table 1 shows the overall energy reserves and Table 2 the production of energy situation in India.

Coal, oil, natural gas and lignite are used for thermal power generation. As on 1.4.2015, In India, Coal reserves have been estimated at 306.6 billion tonnes by the Geological Survey of India. These reserves have been found mainly in the States of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra. Out of this, the proven reserves of coal are about 131.6 billion tonnes. The Lignite reserves in the country have been estimated at around 44.11 billion tonnes by the Geological Survey of India (01.04.2015). The major deposits are located in the States of Tamil Nadu, followed by Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territory of Puducherry. Out of this, the proven reserves of lignite are about 6.3 billion tonnes. The recoverable reserves of crude oil are placed at about 763 million tonnes and of natural gas at about 1488.5 billion cubic meters.

India’s hydro resource is one of the largest in the world, its gross theoretical hydropower potential is estimated to be 2,638 TWh/yr, within which is a technically feasible potential of some 660 TWh/yr and an economically feasible potential of 442 TWh/yr. Out of the total power generation installed capacity in India, hydro power contributes about 14%. More than 70% of the total hydro potential in the country is located in the northern and north-eastern regions put together.

Source:

1. Ministry of Coal, Government of India, Annual Report 2015-16.

2. Ministry of Statistics & Programme implementation, Government of India - Energy Statistics 2016.

Table 1. ESTIMATED ENERGY RESERVES

^(*) Sources: WEC World Energy Resources 2013 Survey, and Uranium 2014 Resources, Production and Demand ("Red Book")

⁽¹⁾ Coal including Lignite: proved recoverable reserves, the tonnage within the proved amount in place that can be recovered in the future under present and expected local economic conditions with existing available technology.

⁽²⁾ Crude oil and natural gas liquids (Oil Shale, Natural Bitumen and Extra-Heavy Oil are not included): proved recoverable reserves, the quantity within the proved amount in place that can be recovered in the future under present and expected local economic conditions with existing available technology.

⁽³⁾ Natural gas: proved recoverable reserves, the volume within the proved amount in place that can be recovered in the future under present and expected local economic conditions with existing available technology.

⁽⁴⁾ Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR) with cost under < USD 130 /KgU.

⁽⁵⁾ Hydropower: technically exploitable capability, the amount of the gross theoretical capability that can be exploited within the limits of current technology.

Table 2. PRODUCTION OF ENERGY IN INDIA BY PRIMARY SOURCES (IN EXA JOULES)

Notes:

Uranium reserves in the country are estimated to be about 129,000 tonnes (metal). It does not include reserves in speculative category. One of the largest resources of thorium in the world is contained in monazite deposits (about 8 million tonnes) in India mainly along the Indian seacoast. Out of this about 4 million tonnes is considered exploitable of which 70% is considered mineable containing about 2,25,000 tonnes of thorium metal.

The Ministry of Power is concerned with perspective planning, policy formulation, processing of projects for investment decision, monitoring of projects, training and manpower development.

The National Electricity Policy (as indicated in the Electricity Act 2003) has been notified in 2005. Apart from overcoming endemic shortages in energy and peak power requirements, the policy sought to increase the per capita availability to 1000 units by 2012. It also aims to affect the financial turnaround and commercial viability of the electricity sector. As part of this policy, the ministry of power has embarked on setting up of eight "ultra mega power projects" of 4000MW capacity each in various parts of the country. Two plants at Sasan (Madhya Pradesh) and Mundra (Gujarat) have already been set up.

The National Tariff Policy to provide guidelines to the regulators for fixing tariffs for generation, transmission and distribution, has been finalised in January 2006.

The demand for electricity is assessed periodically at the national level by CEA. Based on the generation expansion planning studies, CEA prepares short, medium and long-term national power plans. Based on this, power schemes are conceived and implemented by the different agencies. Planning of schemes are on the basis of the national five-year plans and annual plans through the national Planning Commission. Expert groups scrutinize the formulation of the five-year plan before it is finalized and approved. In line with the five-year plans, annual plans are implemented.

There are different Ministries involved in the Power Sector such as Ministry of Power (being the main), Department of Atomic Energy, State Power Ministries and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Matching plans are prepared by these agencies for implementation in line with the national plans. Respective Ministries/Departments exercise administrative control of the functions relating to their areas. Individual power schemes go through the process of techno-economic scrutiny in terms of the procedures of the administrative Ministry before it is approved for implementation.

The Department of Atomic Energy is responsible for setting up nuclear power generation schemes including the techno-economic appraisal. Transmission schemes for nuclear power generation are implemented by PGCIL as per schemes approved by CEA on a regional basis. The overall integration of all the activities is achieved through the planning process in assessment of demands, decision on the expansion planning strategies, energy policy and national five-year/annual plans. Several policy initiatives have been taken and incentives have been provided to widen the scope of private sector participation in the India's electricity sector.

With the enactment of the Electricity Act 2003 and its implementation through various important notifications the electricity sector is rapidly evolving.

The per capita commercial energy consumption has increased from about 10GJ in 1980 to nearly 17 GJ in 2005. During the same period per capita electricity generation from utilities increased significantly from about 162 kWh to 563 kWh. This increased to 957 kWh in 2014. The total installed electric power capacity of only 30 GW(e) in 1980 has made an impressive growth to about 122 GW (e) in 2005-06. The total installed capacity increased to 298.0 GWe by March 2016. The major contribution of electricity generation from utilities was thermal which is about 70% followed by about 14% from hydro origin and about 3% from nuclear origin. The growth rate of electricity generation in energy terms has been more than the growth rate in capacity addition indicating improving capacity utilization. Table 3 shows the historical electricity production and installed capacity and Table 4 the energy related ratios.

Table 3. ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION AND INSTALLED CAPACITY

Years represent financial years from 1^st April of the year to 31^st March of the next year. Electrical capacities are at the end of the financial years. ⁽¹⁾ Electricity from Utilities only. Losses not included. ⁽²⁾ Including 1.76 TWh import from Bhutan (Sources: Annual Reports 2005-06, 2006-07, 2015-16 of the Ministries of Power, Coal, Petroleum& Natural Gas, Ministry of Renewable Energy Sources, Central Electricity Authority and Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.)

Table 4. ENERGY RELATED RATIOS

A major step in the formulation of the Atomic Energy Programme in India was the passing of the Atomic Energy Act in 1948 (subsequently replaced by the Atomic Energy Act of 1962). Under the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was constituted in 1948. Uranium exploration and mining required for the nuclear power programme were some of the initial activities that were undertaken.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) of the Government of India (GOI) was established in August 1954. The Department is responsible for execution of policies laid down by the AEC. It is engaged in research, technology development and commercial operations in the areas of Nuclear Energy, related High Technologies and supports basic research in nuclear science and engineering.

The key policy has been self-reliance. The importance of developing a strong research and development base for the nuclear power programme was recognized early on. Thus, a decision was made, in 1954, to set up a research and development centre, now called Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Trombay. Research reactors APSARA (1956), CIRUS (1960), and DHRUVA (1985) and critical facilities were set up at the Centre. A number of additional facilities and laboratories were built at the Centre to support the nuclear power programme and related nuclear fuel cycle activities. The Research Centres in the Department extend the necessary R&D support to the nuclear power programme and associated fuel cycle activities.

In 1947 when India became independent, its installed electric power capacity was only about 1.5 GW (e), which has now grown to about 298 GW(e) by 2015. Considering the population growth, low per capita electricity consumption and need for increasing the share of commercial energy sources, large-scale production of electric power was necessary. By the late 1950's, AEC had worked out the economics of generating electricity from atomic power reactors. Based on this study, the Government decided to set up a series of nuclear power plants at locations away from coalmines and nearer to load centres. The strategy adopted by the Indian nuclear power programme is to use the country's modest uranium and vast thorium resources. In line with this strategy, a three-stage programme is envisaged. The first stage is based on setting up of pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) using indigenously available natural uranium producing electricity and plutonium and is in commercial domain. This is being followed by the second stage by plutonium fuelled fast breeder reactors (FBRs) producing electricity and more plutonium and uranium233 from thorium. The third stage of reactors will be based on thorium cycle producing electricity and more uranium233. The design of a 300 MW Advanced Heavy Water Reactor is completed and construction of a critical facility for AHWR has been built and being operated. The three stage process described above will enable the country to make efficient use of domestic uranium and thorium contributing significantly to attain true energy security beyond 2050.

India is pursuing fundamental and applied research in the field of plasma physics and thermonuclear fusion and development of technologies relevant to these fields. The overall goal of pursuing thermonuclear fusion research is to develop it as a viable energy technology for future. The first indigenously designed and fabricated Tokamak ADITYA was commissioned by the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) in 1989 and has been regularly operated. Experiments on edge plasma fluctuations, turbulence and other related works have been conducted. A Superconducting Steady State Tokamak (SST-1) is operational which is enabling advanced research in the Physics of Plasmas and associated technologies. SST-1 has made significant milestone achievement during the campaign-IX that concluded on May 31, 2014. During this campaign, SST-1 Toroidal Field Magnets achieved the unique feat of operating its superconducting mode with magnetic field flat tops exceeding 20000 seconds at a field of 1.5 T on the plasma centre (~ 2.8 T on the magnet winding packs) in Two Phase cooling conditions. As of now, SST-1 superconducting magnets are the only magnets in the world that operates in two-phase flow in a cryo-stable condition. This experience would be useful in the ITER (International Thermo-nuclear Experimental Reactor) Project, of which India is a partner.

A Table indicating salient milestones of the Indian Atomic Energy Programme:

The Indian Atomic Energy Organisational Structure is shown in Figure 1. Development of nuclear power and related nuclear fuel cycle and research and development activities are carried out in various units under the AEC/DAE. The organisation is broadly divided into research and development sector, industrial sector, public sector, services and support sector and provides for close interaction needed between the production and R&D units.

Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) comes directly under the Atomic Energy Commission as the independent Regulatory Authority. It is independent of DAE.

Research and development sector includes Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Research (RRCAT), Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC), and fully aided research institutions like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) and others. It also includes Board of Research for Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) and National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) for providing extra-mural funding to universities and other national laboratories.

The HRD programmes of DAE have been recently augmented by the setting up of the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) as a "Deemed to be University". This will further strengthen the linkages between basic research and technology development in various constituent R&D centres and grant-in-aid institutes of the DAE.

Industrial sector includes Government owned units Heavy Water Board (HWB) for the production of heavy water, Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) for the manufacture of nuclear fuel, zircaloy components and stainless steel tubes, and Board of Radiation & Isotope Technology (BRIT) for processing and sale of radioisotopes.

Public Sector Enterprises under the control of DAE and their activities are as follows:

1. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) engaged in the design, construction, commissioning and operation of the nuclear power plants based on thermal reactors;

2. Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) engaged in mining, milling and processing of uranium ore;

3. Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE) engaged in mining and processing mineral sands containing thorium and rare earth minerals and producing minerals such as ilmenite, rutile, monazite, zircon and garnet;

4. Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) engaged in design and manufacture of reactor control and instrumentation equipment related to atomic energy and also to other sectors;

5. Bhartiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) for setting up fast reactors.

Directorate of Construction Services and Estate Management is responsible for construction and maintenance of residential housing/office buildings and other related facilities; Directorate of Purchase and Stores is responsible for centralised purchases and stores.

Nuclear power projects have been set up and operated by a unit directly under the Government of India since the late 1960's, when the construction of the first nuclear power station was commenced. This unit was corporatised in September 1987, thereby forming Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), a wholly owned company of Government of India. Formation of NPCIL was a step to give the required degree of operational freedom and to mobilise funds from the Indian capital market to finance new nuclear power projects. NPCIL is responsible to design, construct, commission and operate the nuclear power plants of the first stage nuclear power programme.

Construction of the first 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) was taken up by the public sector enterprise, BHAVINI under the DAE and its construction is nearing completion.

Development of the 300 MWe AHWR design, for demonstration of technology towards large-scale utilisation of thorium for electricity generation, is being carried out at BARC.

Figure 1. Organisational Structure of Department of Atomic Energy

The construction of India's first nuclear power station at Tarapur consisting of two boiling water reactors (BWRs) commenced in 1964. This was essentially to establish the technical and economic viability of nuclear power in India and to gain valuable experience. In parallel, the work on construction of PHWRs was also commenced. Apart from the first two BWRs at Tarapur which are in operation since 1969, eighteen PHWRs with two reactors at each of the four locations Kalpakkam (MAPS), Narora (NAPS), Kakrapar (KAPS), and Tarapur (TAPS-3&4), four at Kaiga (KGS) and six reactors at Rawatbhata (RAPS) are now in operation. Of these, TAPS- 3&4 are of 540 MWe unit size while the others are in the unit size range of about 200-220 MWe (gross). In addition, one 1000 MWe VVER type PWR (Kudankulam-1) is also operational. The total gross nuclear power capacity in operation is now 5780 MWe.

Construction work for one more unit of 1000 MW (e) VVER (Kudankulam-2) is in progress in co-operation with Russian Federation. Several advanced safety features have been provided in these reactors. Construction work for setting up of two units of 700 MWe PHWRs at Rawatbhata (RAPP-7&8) and two units of 700 MWe PHWRs at Kakrapar (KAPP-7&8) are also in progress.

The work on the second stage of the nuclear power programme is in progress at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR). The Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) 40 MWth at Kalpakkam is in operation. Its unique carbide fuel has achieved a burn-up of 155,000 MWD/Tonne. Construction of the first 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is in advanced stage of construction and system wise commissioning trials commenced.

Towards building up thorium-based reactors, the strides taken by DAE include setting up of 30 kWth neutron source reactor KAMINI at Kalpakkam. The reactor has been in operation since 1997. Kamini uses uranium233-based fuel derived from irradiated thorium.

A detailed design report for setting up the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) of 300 MWe capacity has already been prepared by BARC. This is a vertical pressure tube reactor design utilising heavy water moderator, boiling light water coolant, thorium-plutonium based fuel and incorporating passive safety systems. It derives about two-third of its power from thorium and DAE/BARC. It will be essentially a technology demonstration project for utilising thorium for electricity generation and the site has been selected and is expected to start construction in a few years time.

Table-7 gives a status of nuclear power plants in India.

Table 5. STATUS OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

The performance of NPPs in operation is given below:

Notes: (* Up to Feb 2016); (^# This is infirm power generation before commercial operation)

Overall Performance of Nuclear Power Plants

Performance highlights: (FY 2014-15)

Operation:

• NPCIL generated 37,835 million units of electricity, including 2243 million units infirm power of KKNPP-1. In all, KKNPP-1 has generated 3348 million units of infirm power and 2087 million units of commercial power up to March 31, 2015.

• The Overall availability factor of the reactors in operation continued to be high at 88% during 2014-15.

• Overall capacity factor of operating reactors of NPCIL was 82% during 2014-15.

Safety:

• The safety record of NPCIL was maintained impeccable over 45 years of safe, accident-free operation.

Financial:

• During the year 2014-15, NPCIL’s Profit After tax (PAT) was Rs 2,201 crore.

• Dividend and tax on dividend of Rs 767.33 crore for the year paid to Government of India.

• NPCIL’s instruments continued to be maintained at AAA rating.

Projects:

• KKNPP Unit-1 commenced commercial operation on December 31, 2014. The 1000 MW capacity was added to the Southern grid. The unit attained criticality on July 13, 2013 and was synchronised to the Southern grid for the first time on October 22, 2013.

• Commissioning work is underway at KKNPP-2 (1000 MW LWR), while construction is progressing at KAPP-3&4 (2x700 MW PHWRs) and RAPP-7&8 (2x700 MW PHWRSs).

• GHAVP (1&2) and KKNPP (3&4) projects have been accorded administrative approval and financial sanction from Government of India. These projects are planned to be launched in 2015-16. Also, pre-project activities like MoEF clearance, land acquisition, site infrastructure development works, etc. Are at various stages of progress at site in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

(Source: Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited Corporate Profile October 2015, Department of Atomic Energy, India)

Technology, tools and procedures have been successfully developed and deployed based on indigenous efforts for in-service inspection, complex in-core maintenance and major refurbishment work. Life management programme for coolant channels, based on indigenous technology like Non-Intrusive Vibration Diagnostic Technique along with various computer codes like SCAPCA, HYCON and BLIST has enabled safe operation of the first generation of Indian PHWRs having zircaloy-2 pressure tubes. The slivering tool has been used for collecting more than 850 samples from nearly 200 pressures tubes of operating 220 MWe PHWRs. A modified version of the slivering tool to cater to the higher diameter of pressure tube due to creep has been developed. A modified hot pressurisation scheme for 220 MWe PHWR has been evolved based on detailed studies carried out and implemented in operating reactors.

Plant life extension activities are progressively being implemented at TAPS 1&2. Upper shell longitudinal welds of Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) which were seen as inaccessible up till now have been inspected first time since operation of the reactors by deploying Weld Inspection Manipulator (WIM) in Unit-1 in August 2012. Subsequently Unit-2 and again Unit-1 upper shell welds were inspected with upgraded versions of WIM in Feb 2013 & March 2015 respectively. Inspection of upper shell welds paves the way for more challenging inspection of beltline region welds. A manipulator named as BARC Vessel Inspection System (BARVIS) for inspection of beltline region welds from inner side of the RPV was designed, manufactured, tested & qualified. During Refuelling Outage in January 2016 of Unit -2, BARVIS has been successfully deployed for beltline region welds inspection.

Post Fukushima upgrades in Indian NPPs:

Safety enhancement in Indian NPPs has been a continuous process. Immediately after the Fukushima (Japan) accident safety re-assessment of all Indian NPPs was carried out by NPCIL and AERB. These assessments brought out the requirements for further enhancement in safety, especially against severe external events.

The approach adopted for these safety enhancements is outlined below:

1. Re-confirmation of capability to withstand currently defined site specific design / review basis levels of external events for individual plants. This included revisiting the results of earlier PSRs and review of need for further strengthening, as necessary.

2. Assessment of margins available for beyond the design / review bases levels of external events. The objective of this assessment was to find out if cliff edges were close to the design basis /review basis levels and to suggest modifications such that minimum safety functions can be performed in such situation.

3. Enhancing the capability of the plants to perform the safety functions under extended SBO / extended loss of heat sink through the design provisions. Towards this, NPCIL carried out safety assessment for extended SBO and augment the capability for continued heat removal for 7 days. The measures being incorporated based on the above assessments include:

• Alternate provisions for core cooling and cooling of reactor components including identification / creation of alternate water sources and providing hook-up points to transfer water for long term core cooling,

• Provision of portable DGs / power packs

• Battery operated devices for plant status monitoring

• Additional hook up points for adding up water to spent fuel storage pools

4. Review and strengthening of severe accident management provisions particularly with respect to:

• Hydrogen Management

• Containment venting

5. Creation of an On-Site Emergency Support Centre at each NPP site which should remain functional under extreme events including radiological, with adequate provisions of communication, monitoring of plant status and having capacity for housing essential personnel for a minimum period of one week.

Significant progress has been made in all the areas identified for post Fukushima upgrades for each of the operating NPP in the country.

1. Energy Policy

   The Integrated Energy Policy of the country recognizes that nuclear power based on indigenous resources can provide long term energy security for the country and recommends continued support for the three-stage program and development of the thorium fuel cycle. It also recommends exploring the possibility of setting up large nuclear capacities based on imports once the necessary agreements for international cooperation are in place.

2. Privatisation and Deregulation

   The nuclear power generation and related fuel cycle activities are under the Central Government. NPCIL, a wholly owned company of GOI. The 500 MWe PFBR is being set up by BHAVINI which is another PSU under DAE registered on 22^nd October 2003 for this purpose. DAE, is responsible for setting up and operating the nuclear power plants. The other related fuel cycle (both front-end and back end) activities are carried out by the different units of DAE, GOI.

   As of now, there is no equity participation by the private sector in the area of nuclear power generation. In order to facilitate having possibility of joint ventures with other public sector company, the Atomic Energy Act 1962 was amended in the year 2015. This is essentially aimed to attract investment in the nuclear power sector for capacity addition.

3. Role of the Government in nuclear R&D

   Most of the R&D related to nuclear power is funded and carried out by the Department of Atomic Energy under Government of India. However through extra mural research funding, the R&D is also carried out in some of academic research institutions outside the Department of Atomic Research Centre.

4. Nuclear Energy and Climatic Change

   India is a large country and so needs a large electricity generating capacity. Power generation in India was 4.1 billion kWhr in 1947-48 and in 2014-15; it was about 1272 billion kWhr including captive power. In the next 50 years, it may increase by a factor of 12 or more. At present, a major component of electricity is generated using fossil fuels and there are environmental concerns like green house gas (GHG) emissions associated with the energy generation using fossil resources. If India continues to rely on fossil resources as at present, it will have serious effects on local, regional and global environment. Therefore, it is necessary that India continues to develop nuclear energy and meets a significant percentage of its electricity needs based on nuclear energy.

5. Safety and Waste Management Issues

   Utmost attention is given to safety in nuclear power plants. The overriding attention to safety encompasses the entire gamut of activities associated with nuclear power plants (NPPs), that is, siting, design, construction, commissioning, and operation. In all these activities, a major effort is devoted to ensuring safety of operating personnel, public as well as the environment.

   A systematic approach using well-defined principles is followed in the design of the nuclear power plants to provide the required safety features adopting principles of defence-in-depth, diversity and redundancy. Nuclear Power Plants are constructed in accordance with the design intent, and with required quality of workmanship to very strict quality standards. Commissioning of the systems to test and demonstrate adequacy of each system and the plant as a whole by actual performance tests to meet the design intent is carried out before commencing the operation of the plant. Operation of the plant is carried out as per defined and approved procedures defining the safety limits for various system parameters, in technical specifications that are thoroughly reviewed by the internal safety committees and approved by AERB. Further AERB, through formal clearances that authorise actions and stipulate specific conditions, enforces safety at various stages of the plant. These include site approval, review and approval of design of systems important to safety and authorisations for construction, commissioning and operation and safety review during operational phase. The regulatory framework in India is indeed robust. All these measures are for ensuring safe operation of the plants, safety of occupational workers and members of public.

   All nuclear power plant sites in India are self sufficient in the management of radioactive waste generated there. Adequate facilities have been provided for handling, treatment and disposal of relevant wastes at these sites. Management of radioactive wastes is carried out in conformity with the guidelines specified by the Regulatory Authorities based on internationally accepted principles in line with the guidelines laid down by the international agencies.

6. Other Issues and Developments

   The NPPs presently in operation are generating electricity at competitive tariffs. Measures to reduce construction period of NPPs, standardisation and scaling up unit sizes have been taken to further improve the economic competitiveness of nuclear power.

The nuclear power technology, as is evident from the excellent performance of the indigenously constructed plants of the first stage nuclear power programme, in India has matured. The current emphasis is on accelerating the growth of nuclear capacity addition. The factors receiving attention are:

• Launching indigenously designed 700 MWe. PHWRs

• Launching of AHWR 300 MWe- a technology demonstration project for utilisation of thorium for electricity generation.

• Setting up large capacity LWRs based on imports

• Focus on further enhancement of performance and safety of NPPs in operation

• BARC is a national research centre for multidisciplinary R&D work in nuclear sciences, reactor engineering, reactor safety, nuclear fuel, control and instrumentation, material science, spent fuel reprocessing and radioactive waste management, development of radiation technology applications etc. R&D work on development of the AHWR is in progress at this Centre and the prototype unit is expected to be launched in a few years. Development works on plant life extension, ageing and in-service inspection are given due importance.

• IGCAR is responsible for R&D related to development of FBR technology. Technology development for the first 500 MW (e) PFBR has been completed and the construction of the reactor at Kalpakkam is being done by a corporation ‘BHAVINI’ set up especially for this purpose. BHAVINI draws technical expertise from IGCAR and project management expertise from NPCIL.

• Atomic Mineral Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) at Hyderabad is responsible for survey, exploration and prospecting of atomic minerals, etc.

• Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) carry out advanced research in Lasers, Accelerators and their applications.

• Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) undertakes research in Plasma Physics and associated technologies.

• The other R&D institutions of the DAE are carrying out advanced research work in hi-tech areas such as biosciences etc. and also in basic sciences such as physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics.

• Academic Institutions and Universities also extend R&D support in specific areas as per needs.

• The Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) and the National Board of Higher Mathematics (NBHM) support research activities in national institutes and universities in the fields of nuclear science & technology and mathematics.

• Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) is a "Deemed to be University" which provides the linkage between basic research and technology development in DAE.

A number of initiatives have been taken on the development of new reactor systems. The details are as follows:

• All PHWRs beyond those presently under construction are proposed to be of 700 MWe unit size. Design work on scaling up the 540 MWe unit PHWR to 700 MWe by permitting partial boiling in the channels, has been completed. The construction of four such units has been in progress.

• The construction of the first 500 MWe PFBR is nearing completion. This will signify the launch of the second stage FBR programme in the country.

• The 300 MWe AHWR design has been completed. This is a technology demonstration project for large-scale utilisation of thorium for electricity generation.

International co-operation is through multilateral mechanism with IAEA as well as through bilateral mechanisms. Under the aegis of the IAEA, India has trained a number of personnel, particularly from the developing countries. India has also hosted a number of workshops, seminars and training courses. The expertise of Indian scientists and engineers is made available to other countries through IAEA.

NPCIL is a member of WANO Tokyo Centre, WANO Atlanta Centre and Candu Owners Group (COG). Many Indian professional have participated in the workshops/seminars/training courses, conducted by these organisations. Also many Indian professional have participated as Reviewer / Lead Reviewer in the WANO Peer Review of Plants abroad. NPCIL teams have also visited other NPPs outside India under the Technical Exchange Visit (TEV) programme of WANO. Similarly NPCIL plants have also received TEV team from other NPPs worldwide.

The details on international, multilateral and Bilateral Agreements are given in Annex-1.