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DAE revises target, to generate 20,000 mw atomic power by 2020

The Department of Atomic Energy has set an ambitious upwardly revised target to produce 20,000 mw of electricity from atomic power stations by the year 2020, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Dr R Chidambaram said in Bombay today.

Dr Chidambaram said a chain of new 500 mw pressurised heavy water and fast breeder power reactors are proposed to be set up to augment power generation to meet the country's growing electricity demand in the 21st century.

The department, which implements its power generation programme through the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, was enthused by the government's commitment to extend sustained financial assistance for expanding the nuclear power development programme which had been reflected in the 68 per cent increase in budgetary allocation for the DAE, he said.

Dr Chidambaram said work was progressing in full swing on the four new atomic power units of 220 mw capacity each. Of these, two were being set up in Kaiga and two at Rawatbhata under the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station expansion programme. These four units would be completed by the first half of next year and they would add additional 880 mw power to the existing total nuclear power installed capacity of 1840 mw in the country, he said.

Besides, preliminary civil works had already commenced on the country's first 500 mw capacity's two units at Tarapur Atomic Power Station in Thane district, adjacent to Bombay, which would add another 1000 mw power generation. These two units would be completed in next seven years.

In addition to all these indigenously set up power reactors, two advanced light water reactors of 1000 mw each were proposed to be set up at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu with Russian cooperation. Russia had already agreed to supply the reactor for the project. A supplementary agreement would be signed soon between the two countries, which would speed up the work on preparation of the project report, he said.

He said all future reactors would be totally based on indigenous technology and would be set up in a phased manner as envisaged in the revised nuclear power target to achieve total installed capacity of 20,000 mw by the year 2020.

He said the indigenous nuclear power programme would be based on pressurised heavy water reactors, fast breeder reactors and in the long term, reactors based on thorium-uranium 233 cycle. It would start with the setting up of a 500 mw electricity pressurised heavy water reactor followed by a fast breeder reactor of identical capacity and a prototype fast breeder reactor. This prototype project would be followed by few more fast breeder reactors which would mark the beginning of indigenous programme of thorium utilisation. This would take care of 10,000 mw electricity production, Dr Chidambaram said.

He also said all our operating reactors were functioning at high capacity factors comparable to international standards.

He said the coolant channel replacement work in Rajasthan Atomic Power Station-II was complete. The reactor had already gone critical and would be synchronised to the grid in next few days. He said in reply to a question that India needed all sources of Energy, and nuclear energy would continuously become an increasingly important option. He said the revised nuclear power generation programme was double the earlier envisaged target of 10,000 mw electricity planned some 15 years ago.

According to sources at NPC, the old target of achieving 10,000 mw by the year 2000 was scaled down to 5000 mw due to shortage of funds. However, the initiatives of the new AEC chairman had given new direction to the nuclear power generation programme and "we are now confident of successfully achieving the target as the government too has been very favourably inclined to promote the same," the sources added.

UNI

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