Reactor blues

It is a good thing the Opposition parties have decided to let Parliament function. Otherwise the rules that have been promulgated by the Manmohan Singh government to implement the Civilian Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010, dictating the terms on which high capacity reactors from abroad will be bought, would have automatically kicked in after 30 days notwithstanding the fact that they circumvent the Act. In the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament, the Opposition parties have, therefore, to amend this set of rules appropriately so that the original intent of the law is restored.

The main problem with these rules is that the supplier firms’ period of exposure and the extent of their liability have been radically reduced in line with the requirements of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation. Thus, absolving the foreign suppliers of the 1,000 MWe-1,600 MWe reactors of all responsibility for providing technologies not proven on the ground means that there is no recourse in case of nuclear catastrophe arising out of design flaws and other technological deficiencies in these reactors that could become evident only after years of operation when the supplier warranty period runs out.
Unfortunately, these imported light water reactors (LWRs) are what the Manmohan Singh regime has thoughtlessly committed the Indian civilian nuclear energy programme to despite ample warning signs. Apart from the VVER 1,000 reactor constructed in Koodankulam, 11 of which type are on grid in Russia and another seven working in several other countries, there is not a single Areva 1600 EPR (European Pressurised Reactor) being built in France nor a Westinghouse-Toshiba AP 1,000 reactor in the United States and for good reason. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for instance, has refused to license the AP 1,000 reactor design on safety grounds. India is thus the proverbial guinea pig for apparently untested, experimental, reactor designs and related technologies that, on the face of it, seem alarmingly dangerous.
Safety is dependent on how efficiently the extraordinary amount of heat generated by the fission reaction inside the pressure vessel of the reactor is removed. For example, at full tilt the 1,600 MWe Areva reactor will produce 4,500 MW worth of heat. Unless this heat is quickly drawn off using efficient heat exchanger technology that converts it into steam to drive the turbines, there will be “no escape from danger” warns the venerable P.K. Iyengar, former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, especially as indigenous technology will be used for heat removal. Home-grown pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) are at most of 700 MWe capacity and locally-developed heat exchangers can safely handle up to about 2,000 MW of heat. The French and American suppliers do not have tested and reliable heat exchanger technology for high capacity reactors either.
The Indian government would rather take such risks and try and meet the energy deficit by importing 25-30 high-value LWRs running on imported enriched uranium fuel than worry about the perils emanating from their inherently unsafe technology. Moreover, Dr Singh’s nuclear plans actually subvert the great Homi Bhabha’s vision of the plutonium-thorium route to energy independence based on exploiting the country’s large reserves of thorium.
They envisage 40 gigawatts of electricity from imported LWRs used in conjunction with 500 MW fast breeder reactors, the first of which will soon come on stream, compared to just 10 gigawatts being planned from locally-developed PHWRs combining with the FBRs. Further, using the FBRs, that simultaneously produce huge quantities of weapon grade plutonium, with the imported LWRs, will result in the former being consigned to the international safeguards net as mandated by the nuclear deal, thereby permanently depriving the country’s nuclear weapons programme, already grievously weakened by Dr Singh’s acceptance, for all intents and purposes, of the no-nuclear weapon testing condition imposed by Washington, of this fecund source of fissile material.
In the face of unending protests in Koodankulam and Jaitapur, and the scrapping of the LWR project in Haripur, West Bengal, for environmental and safety reasons, the Prime Minister, rather than stepping back to reconsider the imprudent nuclear course he has embarked upon, seems to be bulling ahead. The common folk may not comprehend the technological challenges faced by high-capacity LWRs, but they do in a commonsensical sort of way understand that untested and unproven reactors bought from abroad are manifestly less safe and pose dangers of a kind the Indian state is manifestly ill-equipped to handle. This explains the complete absence of popular protest at numerous sites where Indian-designed and developed PHWRs and FBRs are coming up.
The indigenous reactors inspire confidence in the people because they are seen to have been designed and produced locally by Indians and have a mishap-free track record and that, as products of over six decades of sacrifice and intense national effort and encompassing incrementally upgraded technologies, they have proved their druthers in Indian conditions. More confidence-inspiring still is the fact that these PHWRs are known intimately to Indian nuclear scientists and engineers and, in any safety-related crisis, will ensure there is no hesitation or fumbling — something that Indian personnel handling unfamiliar, alien, reactor technology and wherewithal cannot guarantee.
By de-prioritising the line of Indian plutonium-run reactors, by denying meaningful investment in the development of thorium utilisation technology, and by diverting bulk funding to the acquisition of LWRs — the 30 imported reactors will at a minimum cost the Indian exchequer a whopping $180 billion over the next 30 years, the Indian civilian nuclear energy programme will lose its preeminent status in the pressurised reactor field as also its originality and élan.
This dispiriting trend will accelerate as the imported stuff elbows out indigenous science and technology and the once proud Indian nuclear programme is reduced to a plaything of foreign nuclear companies, probably ending up manufacturing foreign reactors and ancillaries under licence. It will become a nuclear variant of the wretched Hindustan Aeronautics Limited that only replicates imported aircraft. The Congress Party coalition government will have lot to answer for.

The writer is a professor at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi