French, Russian regulators say no need to change designs of projects at Jaitapur and Kundankulam.
India’s nuclear capacity addition programme, which has seen opposition from local villagers and experts countrywide, has got a boost following safety assurances from French and Russian nuclear safety regulators associated with pertinent projects in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) has observed that the evolutionary pressurised reactors (EPRs) proposed for the 9,900-MW in Ratnagiri district along the Konkan Coast has safety applications to face accidents like the one that Japan’s Fukushima reported in March last year.
ASN’s Russian counterpart, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority in Russia (Rostekhnadzor), came out with a clean chit for the VVER-1000 installed for unit 1 and 2 of Kudankulam in downstate Tirunelveli. Rostekhnadzor, too, said the reactor could withstand Fukushima-type accidents or even attacks from airplane. Both regulators said there was no need for a change in the designs of EPR and VVER 1000.
The observations were made in the final report they submitted last week after a thorough review of EPR and VVER 1000 reactors. These reports, which are uploaded on the regulators’ websites, have been forwarded to Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC).
The country’s nuclear capacity addition programme is undergoing turbulence following opposition from villagers and critics. In Kudankulam, villagers have opposed expansion due to safety fears. The nuclear plant at Jaitapur in Rajapur tehsil also faces opposition on safety fears.
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Referring to the reports, the state-run NPC said a preliminary study suggested there was no need for renegotiations with Areva and Atomstroyexport for the supply of EPRs and VVER 1000, respectively.
NPC is in talks for signing a final works contract with Areva, a supplier of EPR of 1,650 Mw each for Jaitapur project. Kudankulamo unit 1 is almost ready, but its commissioning has been delayed due to protests from villagers. Kudankulam’s unit 2 is almost ready.
NPC chairman and managing director SK Jain said stress tests carried out of the plants using EPRs and VVER 1000 in France and Russia, respectively, revealed that the mitigation management system could effectively handle Fukushima-type accidents. “The regulators have stated that there was no need for a change in design. So, there is no need for a renegotiation of techno-commercial offer,” told Business Standard. Also, there won’t be rise in cost of these projects.
“The costs for both Kudankulam unit 1 and 2, and the Jaitapur projects are estimated at Rs 1 lakh-crore.” This would give “further impetus” to conclude ongoing talks between NPC and Areva to ink a final contract agreement.
Jain, however, made it clear that delays in the commissioning of the Kudankulam unit 1 might lead NPC to bear an additional Rs 1,500 crore — mainly on account of interest during construction and daily loss for complete stoppage of work.
NPC would have to remobilise nearly 6,000 contract workers who have left Kudankulam after the protests began in October last year.
ASN, in its final report on EPR safety applications, said, “following the complementary safety assessments performed on the priority nuclear facilities, ASN considers that the facilities examined offer a sufficient safety level to require no immediate shutdown of any of them.”
At the same time, ASN considers that their continued operation requires an increase in their robustness to extreme situations beyond their existing safety margins, as soon as possible.
Further, ASN noted that the detailed operating experience feedback from the Fukushima accident would lead to reinforcement of the safety requirements for nuclear facilities, in particular with regard to the “earthquake”, “flooding” and “risks linked to other industrial activities” aspects.
ASN, in its report, said the supply management methods were capable of guaranteeing three days pf autonomy for the generator sets of the reactors in service and four days for the EPR reactors.