Russia worried India could cut nuclear reliance

lcafanboy

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Russia worried India could cut nuclear reliance
TNN | May 18, 2017, 04.07 AM IST

File photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi


NEW DELHI: Despite repeated pleas by Russia, the government is yet to clear the signing of the MoU, or the General Framework Agreement (GFA), for Kudankulam 5 and 6 reactor units, official sources confirmed on Wednesday.

While the agreement was approved by an inter-ministerial committee, it still awaits final clearance from the PMO. As reported by TOI on Wednesday, Russian deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin took up the issue with PM Narendra Modi last week but there was still no assurance if India was going to sign the GFA before or duing the upcoming summit meet of Modi with President Vladimir Putin. GFA is the final agreement before a project can commence. "After its evaluation by the inter-ministerial group, the proposal has now been sent to the PMO and is awaiting its green signal," a top government source was quoted as saying by PTI



Moscow is also worried that the reluctance to ink the GFA comes on the back of a warning from Indian authorities that the government could stop all foreign collaboration in its nuclear energy programme and instead focus on manufacturing reactors locally. Seeking to give a fresh impetus to India's domestic nuclear power production, the Union cabinet today cleared a proposal to indigenously build 10 atomic reactors, the largest ever approval granted for such facilities in one go.

Once completed, the 10 reactors of 700 MW each will give much needed fillip to the domestic nuclear industry.


India currently has installed nuclear power capacity of 6,780 MW from 22 operational plants. Another 6,700 MW of nuclear power is expected to be added by 2021-22 when currently under-construction projects go onstream in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...cut-nuclear-reliance/articleshow/58725208.cms

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lcafanboy

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Ending India's nuclear dependency

MAY 19, 2017 00:05 IST
UPDATED: MAY 19, 2017 00:12 IST

The government’s go-ahead to 10 indigenous reactors is a timely step towards nuclear energy self-sufficiency

  • India now has 22 nuclear power units. The first pair, located in Tarapur, Maharashtra, uses enriched uranium and incorporates U.S. nuclear technology. These two reactors have operated safely and reliably for the past 47 years and supply the lowest cost non-hydro power. The second pair, located in Rajasthan, uses natural uranium and is based on Canadian technology.

    The first unit of this pair has been out of service for some years due to deficiencies in some key equipment; the second unit has been operating satisfactorily. Commencing from 1983 and over a span of two and a half decades, India built 16 nuclear power units using its own technology, materials and equipment. These reactors use natural uranium as fuel. Fourteen of them have a size of 220 MW and two are of 540 MW.

    Nuclear push in the 2000s


    During the period 2000-2010, India designed a nuclear power unit of 700 MW capacity, using natural uranium. Construction work on two such units in Kakrapar (in Gujarat) and two in Rajasthan was taken up. These four units will go into operation in the next three years. Work on two similar units has been taken up at a site in Haryana.

    All equipment and materials for these larger units will come from Indian suppliers. In recent years, two 1000 MW VVER power units have come up in Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu, using Russian technology. They use enriched uranium supplied by Russia. In 2016, work on two more such units was commenced. When all these units go into operation, India will have 30 reactors with a capacity of 13,000 MW. By then some of the earlier units will be reaching their retirement age.

    In the period 2005-2008, the Indian nuclear establishment was focussed on concluding the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the U.S. India then agreed to build about 10,000 MW of nuclear capacity using U.S. technology. A similar assurance was given to France. Russia and India agreed to install additional units at Kudankulam. The expectation in 2008 was that a rapid increase in Indian nuclear capacity would take place. During 2010-2011, India passed the civil nuclear liability legislation which made a supplier liable for claims under certain circumstances. The U.S. nuclear industry was not prepared to consider any cooperation with India under this condition. In 2016, India came up with the mechanism of an Indian insurance pool that could extend protection to the supplier.

    The Fukushima accident of 2011 jolted the nuclear industry globally and the first priority was assessment of safety of nuclear plants in operation all over the world under what was termed as ‘Beyond Design Basis’ natural events. An unconnected development in the U.S. impacted a nuclear revival there: the availability of shale gas at low prices, in the range of $2.50 to $3 per million BTU. In consequence, General Electric de-emphasised the prospects of nuclear energy. Westinghouse designed a 1400 MW enriched uranium reactor (AP1000) complying with the current safety requirements. It managed to get Chinese utilities to build four such units at two sites and they are in an advanced stage of execution.

    Westinghouse also secured orders to build four AP1000 reactors in the southern U.S., at two utilities. Unfortunately, these projects suffered great delays and huge cost overruns. Toshiba of Japan, a major owner of Westinghouse, incurred $7-8 billion in losses due to the nuclear business in the U.S. and is considering selling its successful chip business to accommodate this loss. Westinghouse has filed for bankruptcy and the future of the four nuclear power units under construction in the U.S. is highly uncertain.


    Project delays aplenty


    Westinghouse representatives discussing their proposal with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for setting up six AP1000 reactors in Kovvada, Andhra Pradesh, have said that the new ownership would get sorted out, perhaps within a year or so, and they would continue to be seriously interested in the India project.

    The U.S. government might facilitate a new owner acceptable to it, and the nuclear business may resume in some modified manner. From an Indian perspective, delays in this project are inevitable and the outcome would be uncertain.

    India has been in discussions with Areva of France on building six EPR reactors of 1600 MW at Jaitapur, Maharashtra. The first such reactor in Finland has been greatly delayed and may go into operation in 2018. There is a pending arbitration case between Finland and France regarding who is to bear the resulting cost increases. A second EPR is under construction in Flammanville, France and that has also suffered delays due to questions regarding the quality of important forgings. Two EPRs in China were making good progress earlier but they also have to address the question of quality of some forgings made in France. Quite independently of these problems, Areva suffered heavy losses post-Fukushima when the uranium market bottomed. Japan, a big buyer of uranium, went out of the market as most of their reactors were shut down in 2011. Only a few have been allowed to restart. The French government has restructured the nuclear business and asked the Electricite de France to take over the nuclear power plant business and let only the fuel and associated activities to be with Areva.

    Make in India


    Anticipating some of these difficulties, the nuclear community in India has been looking at other options to expand the nuclear capacity. The fleet of pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR), of our own design and construction, have performed well. During the last five years, the cumulative capacity factor has been 78%. The reactors have operated continuously for periods exceeding 300 days quite regularly and one of our reactors was on line for 765 days, the second-longest run in the world. The cost of power has been less than from coal in the same region. Given the context, the Union Cabinet’s nod on Wednesday for 10 700 MW PHWRs is timely. Indian industry is well placed to supply all the components and materials required for these reactors. Russia is willing to supply two more 1000 MW VVER units for Kudankulam and continue the cooperation to build six 1200 MW VVERs at a second site, to be identified by India.

    Our reactor designers at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and NPCIL have completed the design of a 900 MW reactor using enriched uranium as fuel, designated as the Indian Pressurised Water Reactor (IPWR). Our industry is keen to mobilise and build up the capacity to make components for this design. Enriched uranium fuel can be sourced from international suppliers, as such reactors can be placed under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

    By about 2025 or so, India may itself supply enriched uranium from its own enrichment facilities. The government’s push for 10 IPWRs will secure India a position of nuclear power plant supplier not only for application in India, but also as a potential exporter. While our earlier plans on expanding nuclear power have not materialised, the alternative plan suggested now, which envisages building 28 units with a total capacity of about 25,000 MW in 15 years from now, can still ensure that nuclear power remains an important part of our strategy to minimise carbon emissions in the long run.
    http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/ending-nuclear-dependency/article18491521.ece
 

lcafanboy

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Nuke MoU: Govt makes Russia sweat before PM Modi-Putin meet
Sachin Parashar| TNN | Updated: May 17, 2017, 04.19 PM IST


HIGHLIGHTS

  • Russia is worried that India might be delaying the MoU for developing Kudankulam reactor units.
  • India’s message to Moscow stated without NSG membership, India would have no option but to go for an indigenous nuclear energy programme.


File photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi





India has warned Russia that it will stall cooperation with its foreign partners for development of its civil nuclear programme if it is unable to become a full member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in the near future. To make its point, it is threatening to put in cold storage an MoU with Russia for developing Kudankulam5 and 6 reactor units.

With Russia working increasingly in tandem with China on global issues, India has often looked at Moscow to persuade Beijing to let go of its opposition to India's membership. Russia is now worried that India might be delaying the MoU to get Moscow to work more proactively for its NSG membership.

Taken aback by this Indian reluctance to seal the MoU, a top official source confirmed to TOI, Russia's deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin took up the issue with PM Narendra Modi in their meeting last week. Rogozin, however, left the country without any clear assurance from India on signing the MoU.

The meeting was held to prepare the groundwork for Modi's summit with President Vladimir Putin early next month. Moscow is now worried that without the MoU, there will be no real takeaway from the summit which is barely two weeks away. Russia remains India's oldest and most reliable partner in the development of its nuclear energy programme.

India's message to Russia, conveyed to Moscow through official channels around the time the last NSG meeting was held, is said to have been quite explicit in nature. It stated that without NSG membership in the next 1-2 years, India would have no option but to go for an indigenous nuclear energy programme. TOI was unable to ascertain if a similar 'threat' was made to the US and France, two other important partners in nuclear energy, but it's clear that the government sees Russia as the only big power which has enough influence with Beijing to soften its position on theissue of India's NSG membership+ .

TOI has learnt that despite repeated exhortations for over 6 months, Russia has been unable to convince India to sign the MoU which was originally meant to have been signed on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Goa last year. It was then said that it would be signed by the end of 2016 but halfway into 2017, India continues to hold back on it despite issues like pricing and technology having been long settled.

Moscow is concerned that India is not responding to its request for signing the MoU even weeks ahead of the Modi-Putin summit. It sees nuclear energy cooperation as one of the most significant elements of its bilateral relationship with India.

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India has at several levels in the past asked Russia to persuade Beijing which continues to back a criteria-based, and not a merit-based approach as desired by India, for expansion of the global body which controls nuclear commerce.


While Russia has worked hard to secure support for India's membership, New Delhi clearly believes that it hasn't done enough to convince China which sees Moscow as a key partner in dealing with the emerging international situation. However, the Russians seem to believe that India has only further complicated its case by inviting Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh and that this will only see China further hardening its position.

Russia's interests now converge sharply with China's as evident also from the way it hasendorsed Beijing' OBOR+ . Putin himself attended this week the OBOR conference which India chose to ignore. Russia, like several Indian neighbours, maintains that its endorsement of OBOR has nothing to do with the contentiousCPEC which raises sovereignty issues for India+ . Moscow's strategic embrace of Pakistan made manifest in its first joint military exercise with the latter last year has also spooked India.



That India might shun foreign collaboration in nuclear energy is also interesting. The government only recently reiterated in Parliament that it expects to raise nuclear power generation capacity to 15,000 MW by 2024 from the 4780 MW that it was in 2014.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...e-pm-modi-putin-meet/articleshow/58707050.cms

Clearly shows NSG needs India and not India requiring NSG.

Yes being a NSG member is necessity so India can export its Nuclear plants and above all STATUS symbol.
 

hit&run

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India has buyer's chip. There is no harm in using it. The saying goes, 'Customer is God'.

When nations spend their money the clout of being a trade partner comes along. Since we are not privy to what exactly transpiring between India and Russia but the dryness is visible in open and there have been a couple of instances where Russians have shown no interest in supporting India.
 

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when we can make our own , why then need to import ???
 

Srinivas_K

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Contrary to the media hype , India and Russia are deepening the strategic relationship.

Bussiness is a changing scenario, both the nations will find a new way to enhance trade.
 

Mikesingh

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Why blame the poor Russians? The elephant in the room is Communist China that has put a spanner in the works as usual, Russia or no Russia. They'll do what they think is right according to their and Pakistan's interests.
 

captscooby81

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Well now apart from the chinese we will have russia also joining the group which want to sabotage our indigenous nuclear power programs so that we always depend on their technologies for our nuclear power future .. Lets Hope we are really making some progress in domestic nuclear reactor technologies ..
 

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