PWR
The History of Indian PWR:
In December 1983, answering questions in the Indian Parliament, Defense Minister Venkataraman said: I have already said that we keep our options in this matter, if necessary we will go in for it. But then a nuclear-powered submarine is different from the nuclear submarine with nuclear warheads. I have already said that we are not going to use atomic energy for anything but peaceful purposes. Therefore, we will use it for power.... it will be only for propulsion."
"The shipbuilding expertise, shore-based support facilities and the manpower needed to build and operate nuclear submarines could not be acquired quickly. The Soviet Union was apparently reluctant to transfer either nuclear-powered submarines themselves or the technology required for their construction in India. In 1980 and 1982 the only submarines offered seem to have been refurbished Foxtrot Class. As a result, India began evaluating possible alternative conventionally powered submarines to replace the Foxtrot submarines in service. At this point it was already decided that at least some units of the design which was chosen would be built in India, and that the ultimate objective of producing nuclear-powered submarines would not be sacrificed. From the mid 1970's, a number of submarine designs were under consideration from Western Europe and the Soviet Union. European countries involved were France, the FRG, Italy, The Netherlands and Sweden, with the FRG and Sweden the clearly favoured options by 1980."
"Indian officials were looking for a design which could offer a chance to learn the production and operating skills relevant to nuclear-powered submarines. The Type-209 design offered by the West German company HDW met some of these criteria. In 1981 HDW won the order based a 'stretched' and heavier version of the Type-209 weighing 1500 tonnes (and consequently designated the Type-1500). West Germany also gained an advantage in negotiations by offering as a package a new generation of torpedoes supplied by the West German company AEG.
"In mid 1987 reports began to surface about Indian negotiations with the Soviet Union to transfer one or more nuclear submarines. Indian sources indicated that India had started a nuclear submarine reactor program of its own at BARC a decade before but with unsatisfactory results. Consequently, India decided to import the capability from the Soviet Union, initially in the form of Soviet nuclear-powered submarines, with Indian personal already in training in the Soviet Union to handle the equipment. In early January 1988, All-India Radio announced that the Soviet Union had 'leased' a nuclear-powered submarine to India with India taking delivery in the Soviet port of Vladivostok."
In late December 1995 it was reported that DRDO had made considerable progress in the fabrication of the pre-test capsule (PTC) was fabricated in 1994 at Hazira in Gujarat. From there it was transported to Kalpakkam. The PTC will fabricated into the final shell is reported to be made of titanium steel and has a hull diameter of 10 meters. This is about 3.5 meters more than the Kilo-class submarine originally borrowed by India. The use of a titanium steel hull will enable the submarine to dive to deeper depths. The hull is to be covered with rubber acoustic tiles to help reduce the signature of the submarine.
The initial design strategy was to copy a leased Russian nuclear submarine (Charlie II) using an Indian built nuclear reactor for propulsion. The Russians are said to have provided detailed drawing of the leased submarine minus the reactor design (providing reactor design details would have been a violation of the NPT).
Yes u may be right " 83 MWe is approximately equal to 190-200 MW thermal.", It has also been reported that the Russian submarine-design bureau Rubin is cooperating in developing the nuclear submarine's 190 MW PWR. Russian engineers have been working with DRDO on the design since 1991. (from Asian Age, May 25, 1996, p1),
The most important part of the submarine is the nuclear powerplant. Very little information is available concerning the powerplant. Certainly the time spent on the leased Soviet nuclear submarine provided valuable design information. However the radiation problems encountered caused much concern.
It is now known that China used information obtained about naval ship reactors to help design their first submarine reactor. Information was openly obtained about the West German reactor used on the Otto Hahn and the Soviet reactor used on the Lenin. This information would have surely been available to India.
Indian sources also mention information about a Japanese naval nuclear reactor (Mutsu) and its suitability for use in a submarine.
Core design, neutronics, power distribution coefficients and criticality calculations all are performed by BARC. Calculations are done in-house using codes developed by both BARC and Kalpakkam scientists. A locally designed supercomputer (PARAM) using parallel processing computers may aid in these efforts, although American and Japanese supercomputers are available for use. (42)Techniques have also been developed at the Advanced Numerical Research and Analysis Group to improve processing speeds of computers by exploiting parallel processing.
Soviet submarines are known to have used both medium and low level enriched uranium.The use of low level enriched uranium by China and France has also been described. According to P.K. Chari, the former director of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and currently Professor of national Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi enriched (20%) uranium would find use in a reactor to power submarines. later evidence seems to indicate that India has the capability to produce the required highly enriched (>90%)uranium needed for the submarine reactor core.
Enrichment of the PWR core has varied from 21% to as high as 45% for later version cores. A typical first generation core contained approximately 50 kg of U-235 per reactor.
India is very experienced in the design and use of cermet fuel for small reactors. As cited earlier the uranium-aluminum phase diagram has been detailed and the effect of additives such as silicon has been examined. Both Aspara and Zerlina are known to have used medium enriched uranium.
(38)Aluminum clad uranium fuel elements are also in use in both the Cirus and Dhruva reactors. The uranium used in both of these reactors is of the unenriched type and is produced at the Uranium Metal Plant located at Trombay. Fabrication of the fuel elements is done at the Fuel Fabrication Division of BARC. Experience gained in the fabrication of these fuel elements would be invaluable in the design of submarine fuel elements.
The reactor and its containment vessel are reported to weigh some 600 tonnes. The pressurized water reactor (PWR) will use enriched uranium in the form of plate-type fuel elements.
The control rod technology for use with the rod worth minimizer has been well developed by India. They are able to adequately separate hafnium from zirconium and have also evaluated the worth of hafnium as compared to cadmium for use in control rods. The use of liquid poison systems has also been evaluated.
A sound foundation had been laid during late 90s, with a high powered, fast track, empowered management system in place. All the requisite institutions/infrastructure were conceptualized, sanctioned and launched from abi-ni-tio, in record time. Bharat Heavy Plates & Vessels at Vizag, Larson & Tubro at Hazira, Mazagon Dock Ship Building Yard, Bharat Heavy Electrical and Bharat Electronics at Bangalore were all roped in. Full cooperation was extended by all concerned, including the Navy, DRDO, DAE and the Public/Private sector undertakings concerned, particularly in making available their best talents for the task envisaged.
