The Union Cabinet’s decision on Wednesday to go ahead with the construction of ten indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor has been termed a revolutionary move by India’s top nuclear scientists.
The Cabinet on Wedne-
sday decided to set up ten indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, each of 700 MWe capacity in various of the country. This will increase the nuclear power capability of the country by 7000 MWe.
“It is a revolutionary, forward looking and bold decision by the Union Government,” Dr MR Srinivasan, former chairman, Atomic Energy Commis-
sion, who is a renowned reactor scientist, told The Pioneer.
Dr Srinivasan said the Government deserves a pat on its back for showing the boldness to go ahead with the construction of PHWRs , an area where India has expertise and experience. “We have shown to the world that we can build PHWR on our own. The day is not far off when other countries interested in setting up nuclear reactors would turn to India for help. This means that we will become a global player in nuclear reactor technology,” said Dr Srinivasan.
He said it would take almost seven years for commissioning a reactor of this kind. “Since we are in a fleet mode, I am sure we will be able to execute the work and commission the reactors in six to seven years from the first pour of concrete,” said Dr Srinivasan, who himself led hundreds of engineers and technicians in building and commissioning the reactors at Tarapore and Kalpakkam.
He has some exciting news for the country. “We do have the expertise in building Indian Pressurised Water Reactors of 900 MWe capability which use enriched uranium as fuel. I am waiting for the Government’s clearance for this reactor,” he said.
This means that the Make in India campaign by the Union Government is going to pay rich dividends in the sector of nuclear energy. Dr Srinivasan is of the view that the decision to set up 700 MWe PHWR was long overdue. He also hoped that the land acquisition and environmental clearances for the projects would not get delayed so that the country’s fleet of 700 MWe PHWR would become operational in seven years.
AN Prasad, former director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, the nerve centre of India’s nuclear energy programme, was also enthused by the decision of the Centre to go ahead with the indigenous PHWRs. “We have the track record in this segment. Our PHWRs have the best safety records in the world. Ours is a matured technology and there is no need to doubt about the safety issues of these reactors,” said Prasad. Interes-
tingly, both Dr Srinivasan and Prasad were critical of the India-US nuclear deal signed by the UPA Government.
A Gopalakrishnan, former chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, had said in a speech in 2011 that it could be possible to build the indigenous PHWR at the rate of Rs 8 crore per MWe while the imported EPR reactor from France to be set up at Jaitapur would cost Rs 21 crore per MWe.
A spokesperson of the DAE based in Chennai told The Pioneer that the fuel for the proposed PHWRs is available within India itself.