A decade long nuclear journey sees US take a side role

Decade since deal, US has taken a side role and not much addition in capacity seen, though there has been some progress on other fronts

The historic Indo-US civil nuclear deal that almost brought down the Manmohan Singh government has completed a decade but with not many megawatts added to nuclear power generation capacity. And, none at all through an American collaboration.

While some experts say the benefit is only in more of uranium supply, diplomats associated with the deal say had it not been for the Fukushima disaster in Japan, the march towards harnessing nuclear energy would have been faster.



Increased uranium supply is, however, not a small feat. With the National Suppliers' Group agreeing to give fuel after the deal, power generation from the 21 units operated by Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) rose to a record 37,835 million units (MUs) in 2014-15 from 14,927 MUs in 2008-09. Capacity utilisation rose to 83 per cent from 50 per cent during the period. In 2012-13, the plant load factor at 78 per cent for nuclear power plants was higher than coal-based units at 70 per cent.

The journey from the joint statement of Manmohan Singh and George Bush on July 18, 2005, in Washington till the eventual signing of an agreement on August 1, 2007 was fraught with problems. The US government had to seek an exemption for India from its Hyde Act; Singh had trouble with his Left allies, which eventually withdrew their support from his government in July 2008.

The deal, however, opened the doors to similar  agreements with France and Russia, bringing not only reactors but newer technology. While not a single unit has been added through American technology, Unit-II of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu, with a Russian reactor, is ready for commissioning. In Kowada, Andhra Pradesh, GE-Hitachi is expected to supply six units of 1,500 Mw. Talks between NPCIL and GE-Hitachi are stuck on the liability issue.

After some delay, Australia also lifted restrictions on import of uranium by India. However, installed generation capacity did not rise by much. Though the capacity more than doubled to 5,780 Mw at the end of March 2015 from 2,770 Mw in March 2005, the total share of nuclear power at 2.1 per cent was slightly lower than the 2.2 per cent in March 2005.

The only new capacity to come up during the decade is Unit-1 of Kudankulam. The unit became the first nuclear power plant to reach 1,000 Mw, in June 2014. The Russian-designed Voda Voda Energo Reactor (VVER) achieved the final milestone nearly eight months after power generated at the plant was connected to the grid in 2013.  

Indian ambassador to Russia P S Raghavan earlier this week said discussions were underway on units III, IV, V and VI to be built at Kudankulam. “We are committed to the Russians...Last December (during the visit of President Vladimir Putin to India), we had decided to speed the nuclear plant manufacture and that in two decades, we will have 12 power plants,” he’d said in an interview.

As on date, pre-project activities for six projects to be developed by NPCIL with reactor supply from foreign companies are on. The list includes Jaitapur (9,900 Mw) in Maharashtra with initial supply of two Evolutionary Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) of 1,650 Mw each and, thereafter, four reactors each of the same capacity from Areva, France.

In Haripur, West Bengal, six units have been proposed with the Russian VVER. At Mithi Vardi in Gujarat, US reactor supplier Westinghouse might supply to NPCIL. Both have entered into an initial agreement and talks are under way.

Jaitapur, earlier at the centre of huge public protest, is likely to see Areva putting up the project. Discussions between Indian and French companies are one for six EPR reactors. “This project will provide India with a total capacity of 10 GWe, covering as much as a sixth of the 2032 target,” Areva recently noted.

According to Debasish Mishra, senior director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the US-India deal would play a key role in accessing of light water reactors. “Imported LWRs will play a key role in reducing the time required by India to implement the third stage of its strategic nuclear power programme, where domestic thorium reserve can be used to meet energy demand. Hence, implementation of the 10-year-old nuclear deal is important.”

A major challenge in implementing the LWRs will be their commercial viability at the offered capital costs and managing of public perception about the safety of nuclear projects after Fukushima.