India's Nuclear Agreement

[nitesh]

The Hindu News Update Service

India's first fast breeder reactor to be ready next year

After over two decades of work, India's first nuclear reactor that will breed more fuel than it consumes will be ready next year, say senior officials at the Kalpakkam nuclear complex 80 km from here.

The heavily-guarded complex is a hive of activity now as the 4,000-odd experts who are designing and building the 500-MW prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) can finally foresee when it will be ready.

If all goes well, the Rs.35 billion (Rs.3,500 crore/$700 million) project promoted by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (Bhavini) will become the crowning glory for the experts past and present at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at the complex that already houses four nuclear power reactors.

"The project is interestingly poised. Civil construction is nearing completion. Most of the reactor components are at the site and deliveries of other equipment are expected soon," IGCAR Director Baldev Raj told IANS.

Measured in terms of physical progress - including component manufacturing - around 40 percent of the project work is complete with an average increase of around 2.5 percent every month.

Officials are hopeful of getting the necessary clearances from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) this month to erect the main vessel and other equipments.

Last June, the huge safety vessel (200 tonnes, 13 metres in diameter and 13 metres in depth) was lowered into the reactor vault.

"Normally safety clearances are in a sequence; first for the site followed by clearances for concrete pour, erection of major equipments and reactor commissioning," IGCAR's reactor engineering group director S.C. Chetal told IANS.

As the project itself is first of its kind in India clearance for lowering of the safety vessel was obtained first.

Bhavini's project director Prabhat Kumar, who literally oversees the project's progress through the glass wall opposite his seat, told IANS: "Around Rs.1400 crore (Rs.14 billion) has been spent till date. This year we have exceeded even the revised estimates of Rs.725 crore (Rs.7.25 billion)."

Orders have been placed for equipments worth around Rs.32.50 billion (Rs.3,250 crore) and purchase orders worth Rs.2.5 billion (Rs.250 crore) will be soon issued.

Reeling off the equipment that has been received - safety vessel, main vessel, thermal insulation, thermal baffle, five sodium pumps, four argon buffer tanks, grid plate and others - Kumar listed the items to be received, such as inner vessel, roof slabs for the reactor building, compressed air system and nitrogen supply system.

Around 175 tonnes of solid sodium in 98 tankers have been imported from France and out of that 75 tonnes have been transferred to the sodium tanks.

"Next fiscal we will get two steam generators, heat exchangers, sodium pumps, similar panels," he added.

Civil works to house power generation equipment like turbine generator and facilities like sea water pump house, sea water intake and others have started and by this March switchyard, auxiliary power and outfall structures will be ready.

Confident that the reactor would start generating power some time in 2010, Kumar added a rider: "There may be some surprises as the project is the first of its kind in many ways".

He added: "Each and every weld point in reactor equipment has to be inspected and safety certified. It is dangerous to ease fabrication and welding processes."

The officials, however, fall silent when asked about rise in project cost due to rising prices of steel, cement and other raw material. "The Bhavini board has to consider the revised cost estimates first," is all they say.

 

[nitesh]

The Hindu : Front Page : Kudankulam first reactor work nearing completion

Kudankulam first reactor work nearing completion

T.S. Subramanian

Engineers execute equipment erection work perfectly


The containment dome of the second reactor building, seen through the barrel-hole of the first reactor building of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu.


CHENNAI: The view through the barrel-hole, situated at a height of 31 metres, is stunning. It frames the massive containment dome of the reactor building of the second unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu.

Tower cranes are swinging around the dome at a great height and the ground below is buzzing with activity. A little away is the fuel storage building, painted in light yellow, where the ready-to-load enriched uranium fuel assemblies for the first reactor have been stacked up.

Of the two Russian reactors under construction at Kudankulam, the first unit is fast nearing completion. It will be commissioned by the middle of 2009. Each unit will generate 1,000 MWe. Although the reactors are imported from Russia, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is building them.

A misnomer

The name barrel-hole is a misnomer. It is a massive circular opening, 9.9 metres wide, at a height of 31 metres in the reactor building. Erecting the reactor equipment inside was no easy job.

A powerful crane winched up very heavy equipment such as the reactor pressure vessel, which weighed 320 tonnes, four steam generators of 306 tonnes each and a 180-tonne pressuriser. Then they were moved into the reactor building through the barrel-hole and wheeled inside on a specially designed railtrack. When the entire reactor is ready, a 22-tonne door, called air-lock, will seal the barrel-hole. The reactor building itself is 80 metres tall.

K.C. Purohit, Project Director, KKNPP, said: “About 98 per cent of the civil construction has been completed for the first unit. On the mechanical side, we have completed 95 per cent of the equipment erection. On the piping side, which is an important front, we have the primary and secondary circuits, and on the turbine side too, a majority of the piping has been installed … The good news is that our Indian engineers have absorbed the [Russian] technology and executed the erection work in the most efficient manner.”

A.K. Pal, Chief Construction Engineer, gave a glimpse of the complexity of the operation involved: “The reactor pressure vessel, weighing 320 tonnes, has to be lowered inside without a scratch. We have to maintain its mirror-finish.” All the equipment had to be erected in a specialised manner in a confined space.

“Most difficult work”

K.S. Rao, Project Director, Kudankulam 3 and 4, called the installation of such equipment “the most difficult assignment I and Pal have done since 1970.” It demanded devising of methods and procedures, and building of tackles, assemblies and testing facilities.

“You can imagine the complexity of tooling,” said Mr. Purohit, “when you handle equipment, each weighing 300 tonnes. This is a typical operation in which mechanical erection and civil construction have to go in tandem.” According to M.I. Joy, Additional Chief Engineer (Site Planning), most of the turbine equipment were in place too.

With the entire enriched uranium fuel required for the first two years of operation of the first unit having arrived at Kudankulam, the next significant milestone will be the loading of the fuel into the first unit in the second quarter of 2009 and thereafter its commissioning.

 

[nitesh]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com..._week_French_minister/articleshow/4060480.cms

Areva to sign Indian nuclear deal this week: French minister
1 Feb 2009, 2102 hrs IST, AGENCIES

MUMBAI: French nuclear power engineering company Areva is to sign a deal this week with a number of Indian energy plants, France's foreign trade minister Anne-Marie Idrac said here on Sunday.

Idrac said that a memorandum of understanding would be signed in the coming days, as part of French moves to tap into India's expanding civil nuclear sector.

The minister declined to say exactly how many plants were involved in the tie-up, but French officials accompanying her on the four-day trip said it would be a "significant number".

Areva announced in December last year that it will deliver 300 tonnes of uranium to India under an agreement signed between the two countries three months earlier.

The uranium will go to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and is the first such shipment since a 34-year embargo on international nuclear trade with India was lifted in September.

The embargo was put in place after India tested nuclear weapons in 1974. It tested them again in 1998 and refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Russia, Canada and the United States have also signed agreements with India but Moscow - New Delhi's former Cold War ally -is the only state actively involved in building reactors in the country.

Nuclear power supplies about three percent of India's fuel needs but the government aims to hike this to about 25 percent by mid-century, lessening dependence on oil imports and coal to sustain its fast-growing economy.

 

[nitesh]

Finally it is getting signed

India to sign nuclear safeguards agreement in Vienna today

India to sign nuclear safeguards agreement in Vienna today

Ahmedabad: Australian High Commissioner says in Ahmedabad that his country doesn’t oppose India’s access to nuclear energy. India will sign the India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna on Monday. Earlier, on August 1, 2008, the IAEA’s Board of Governors had unanimously approved the agreement. The agreement will come into force after it is signed and appropriate ratification letters exchanged.

Australia, which is a member of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, has ruled out uranium sale to India on grounds of the latter not having signed the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). However, the Australian High Commissioner to India, John McCarthy, who was in Ahmedabad on Sunday, said the move was “not aimed at India specifically”.

“The decision was taken due to the internal political compulsions of Australia. Our country has long held on to the policy of not supplying uranium to countries that have not signed the NPT. Our policy is not to oppose India’s access to uranium or nuclear energy. In fact, Australia has been very supportive of India during the legislation and debate on the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA,” McCarthy said.

The Australian high commissioner was in Ahmedabad to inaugurate the Management Education Centre on Climate Change (MEC-CC), which has been jointly setup by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and the Gujarat University.

 

[nitesh]

see the Australians how they are getting in line.

I feel they will soon open there mines for the yellow cake

 

[nitesh]

India signs safeguards pact with IAEA-India-The Times of India

India signs safeguards pact with IAEA
2 Feb 2009, 2012 hrs IST, PTI


VIENNA: India on Monday signed a key safeguards agreement with IAEA to allow inspection of additional civilian reactors, clearing the decks for supply of atomic fuel and technology by the international community after a 34-year-old nuke trade embargo was lifted last year.

The pact between the government of India and the UN atomic watchdog for the 'Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities' was inked here by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and Indian Amabassador Saurabh Kumar.

India currently applies inspection by the IAEA in six civilian nuclear reactors under safeguards agreements concluded between 1971 and 1994.

In future, additional reactors are expected to be brought under IAEA safeguards under the newly-signed agreement.

"The safeguards agreement, which is the result of several rounds of consultations conducted between India and the IAEA since November 2007, was approved by the IAEA Board of Governors in August 2008," the IAEA said in a statement.

The agreement will enter into force once it was ratified by India, it said. The India-specific safeguards agreement (ISSA) was approved by the 35-member IAEA Board on August 1 last year.

With this, India can go ahead with its nuclear commerce with the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Also, those countries which have signed civil nuclear agreements with India can now proceed with their ratification process in their respective countries, Department of Atomic Energy sources said.

The agreement with the IAEA was a pre-condition for the implementation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and allows the 45-member NSG to supply material and technology for India's ambitious nuclear power programme.

According to Chairman and Managing Director of Nuclear Power Corporation, S K Jain, this is one step forward towards the agreed framework in implementing the deal on international nuclear commerce.

Jain said, "We are happy that we have achieved another milestone in the journey of nuclear power commerce."

The ISSA will allow operationalisation of inter-governmental agreements (with Russia, US and France). Now it has to get a cabinet nod and then go for ratification. Atomic Energy Commission member M R Srinivasan said this was a "crucial step" as per the plan of action under the civil nuclear cooperation with the US.

Importing of natural uranium immediately would be possible for fuel-starved nuclear indigenous reactors once it is ratified, he said. India has already signed a contract with the French power company AREVA for importing 300 tonnes of yellow cake (natural uranium).

 

[nitesh]

domain-b.com : French nuclear giant Areva arrives in India to sign deals


French nuclear giant Areva arrives in India to sign deals news
02 February 2009

Executives of French nuclear power company Areva accompanied by Anne-Marie Idrac, French minister for external trade, have arrived in India to sign deals with Indian energy companies in a bid to take a part in the nuclear market in India, estimated to grow to $150 billion in the next 30 years.

Idrac refused to comment on the number of tie-ups Areva would be signing with Indian companies, but officials accompanying her said that the number was substantial.

Recently, the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI) has held talks with Areva, for the supply of third-generation 1,600 MW European Pressurised Reactors. Areva already has signed a deal with China to supply the same reactor.

In this visit, Areva will sign an accord with the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd for setting up two reactors in Maharashtra. This follows the Intergovernmental Agreement between India and France on civil nuclear co-operation.

With the 34-year embargo on international nuclear trade lifted with the signing of the US-India nuclear deal on 9 October by US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, (See: Indo-US nuclear deal: Signed, sealed and delivered) the country is now free to source the much-needed uranium for its reactors.

In December Areva agreed to supply over 300 tonnes of uranium to India under an agreement signed between the two countries and high-level delegations from Britain and Canada, who had come to India last month, have also offered to supply uranium.

The visits by the British and Canadian delegations came close on the heels of a similar trip by a team of the US nuclear industry here late last month. (See: Major nuclear suppliers attracted to India)

Kazakhstan, who is known to possess the second largest uranium reserves in the world, had also signed a nuclear cooperation agreement when its president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, arrived here last month as the chief guest for the country's Republic Day celebrations.

Idrac said that France wants to see its trade to double with India from €6 billion to €12 billion this year by holding 20 trade exhibitions this year.

She said that French companies will supply equipment and solutions in energy, construction and IT and sustainable development, in order to boost the strategic trade relations between India and France.

She said that she would also talk to her Indian counterpart regarding India's concerns, which it had raised in the collapsed Doha trade talks held in Geneva last year.

 

[nitesh]

India to add 1,660 Mw nuclear power capacity this year

India to add 1,660 Mw nuclear power capacity this year
Press Trust of India / New Delhi February 03, 2009, 15:15 IST

India expects to start four nuclear power plants from this calendar year which would add 1,660 Mw atomic power to the national energy basket.

"We expect three units to come on stream this year," Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar told reporters on the sidelines of an awards ceremony here.

The fourth nuclear power plant to become operational could be the one at Kudankulam, which is a symbol of Indo-Russian civil nuclear cooperation.

"Two units in Rajasthan and one in Kaiga and later this year one of the Kudankulam units may also come upstream," said Kakodkar.

He said the Indo-US civil nuclear deal will help speed up atomic power generation in the country.

"Currently, nuclear power constitutes only three per cent of the total electricity generated in the country. We want to increase it. It is a long processes, now (post-nuclear deal) the process will be speeded up," he said.

Kakodkar said the India Specific Safeguards Agreement was signed in Vienna yesterday with the IAEA. "That was an important step. It is one of the steps in implementing the international civil nuclear cooperation," he said.

Earlier, Kakodkar, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair, social activists Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh, IIM Calcutta Director Shekhar Chaudhari and Shiv Sena MP Bhavna Gavali were honoured with the Bharat Asmita National Awards.

The awards are given away every year by the MIT Group of Institutions founded by Vishwanath Karad.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari gave away the awards.

 

[macintosh]

NPCIL signs MoU with Areva for supply of two nuclear reactors

New Delhi, Feb 04: India on Wednesday signed its first commercial pact to build atomic power plants with French company Areva after a 34-year-old international embargo on nuclear trade was lifted.

Areva will supply two European Pressurised Reactors of 1650 MW each for nuclear plants the French company will build at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.

The Memorandum of Understanding for building nuclear plants was signed by S K Jain, Chairman and Managing Director Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Areva.

"This is just the beginning," said Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission who was present at the signing ceremony along with Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State in the PMO and Anne-Marie Idrac, French Minister for Foreign Trade.

Lauvergeon said the Areva was committed to supply fuel for the lifetime of the reactors, which she pegged at about 60 years.

She said Areva will meet the fuel requirements through its uranium mines located in various countries, including Australia, Kazakhstan and Niger.

Though the MoU provides for supply of two nuclear reactors, the order may be stepped up to six at a later date.

All the reactors will be located in a nuclear park Areva has been tasked to develop at Jaitapur.

The cost of one EPR has been estimated at between 5.2 and 7.8 billion US dollars, although final costs are subject to negotiation.

The signing of the MoU signals end of India's nuclear isolation and its emergence as a responsible nuclear state, Chavan said. He said the MoU will pave way for technology collaboration in the nuclear sector and India seeks to enhance significantly its electricity generation capacity.

"We need to quadruple power generation as the nation would require about 63 Giga Watt electricity by 2032," Chavan said.

NPCIL, which currently operates 17 nuclear power reactors with a 4120 MW capacity, hopes to step up atomic power generation to 20,000 MW by 2020.

Currently, EPR-type of reactors are under construction in Finland, China and France.

In December, India signed a contract with AREVA for importing 300 tonnes of natural uranium.

This is the first commercial agreement for supply of nuclear reactors after India got the historic waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to participate in global nuclear commerce in September last year.

Since then, India has signed inter-governmental civil nuclear cooperation agreements with France, Russia, the US and Kazakhstan.

Once the India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA, signed in Vienna yesterday, is ratified, nuclear fuel supplied by Areva will be used in Rajasthan Atomic Power Station units, two of which are already under safeguards for the last three decades.

The nuclear trade embargo was enforced on India after it conducted nuclear tests in 1974.

 

[LCA]

Future N-reactors to be located in nuclear parks

Future N-reactors to be located in nuclear parks

New Delhi: All future nuclear reactors in India will be located in nuclear parks, the first of which is being set up in Jaitapur in Maharashtra, head of Nuclear Power Corporation of India, S K Jain said.

Each of these nuclear parks would have between eight to ten nuclear reactors, all of same type and capacity, which will be set up in phases, Jain said.

He was speaking after NPCIL signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the French company Areva for building two nuclear reactors in Jaitapur. The number of reactors at Jaitapur would be eventually increased to eight and aim at generating between 8,000-10,000 MW of electricity.

"We are in the process of finalising more sites for locating these nuclear parks. These would be announced very soon," he said.

Many of the current atomic power stations also have more than two reactors. Jain said setting up nuclear parks would ensure a planned development of the site, the infrastructure around it and eventually come to be cheaper than stations with just one or two reactors.

The new reactors would also be high-capacity ones, in the range of 1000 MW and above. The two being set up in Jaitapur by Areva are 1650 MW each and the ones that would be built there at a later stage would also be of the same capacity, he said.

The Jaitapur reactors are also based on a new technology, EPR which has been developed by Areva. It is currently developing four such reactors, two in China, one in France and another in Finland. EPRs, or European Pressurised Reactors, have a slight advantage over the reactors that are being currently used in India in that no heavy water is required in them.

 

[macintosh]

'India's 1st FBR this year'

Jalandhar, Feb 06: India would develop the first fast breeder reactor this year, making it the only nation in Asia to develop such a technology.

Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) on Friday said after over two decades of work, the country's second generation nuclear reactor that would breed more fuel than it consumes will be ready by the end of this year.

Work on the second generation 500-MW prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) is expected to be completed by the end of this year, Head of Material Science Division of IGCAR C S Sundar told reporters while participating in the National Conference on "Nanomaterials Syntheses and Applications" here.

He said it would be a major achievement for the country as no other nation in Asia has developed the technology so far.

A breeder reactor is one that breeds more material for a nuclear fission reaction than it consumes, so that the reaction that ultimately produces electricity can continue, he explained.

If all goes well, the Rs 35-billion project promoted by the Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (Bhavini) will become the crowning glory for the IGCAR that already houses four nuclear power reactors, he added.

 

[nitesh]

RIA Novosti - Russia - Russia's TVEL to sign $780 mln nuclear fuel deal with India


Russia's TVEL to sign $780 mln nuclear fuel deal with India
12:29 | 07/ 02/ 2009

Print version

MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russian nuclear fuel producer TVEL expects to sign a $780 million contract on fuel supplies to Indian nuclear power plants, a spokesman for Russia's state nuclear power corporation Rosatom said on Saturday.

The contract, if signed, could make Russia the first country to supply nuclear fuel to India since the Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted a three-decade ban on nuclear fuel sales to the country on September 6, 2008.

"The contract is likely to be signed on February 11 in Mumbai," the spokesman said.

Under the deal, Russia would supply India with 2,000 metric tons of uranium pellets.

In December, the French company Areva and India's Atomic Energy Department signed a deal for the supply of 300 tons of uranium to be used in Indian nuclear reactors under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

The fuel contract would be another step in burgeoning nuclear cooperation between Russia and India. On December 5, Moscow and Delhi signed an agreement to build an additional four reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, where it is finishing two reactors under an earlier contract, and construct new nuclear plants in India.

TVEL is one of the world's leading manufacturers of nuclear fuel, which it supplies to 73 commercial (17% of global market) and 30 research reactors in 13 countries.

 

[nitesh]

India ready for ban on nuclear weapons: NSA-India-The Times of India

India ready for ban on nuclear weapons: NSA
7 Feb 2009, 1615 hrs IST, IANS

MUNICH: India is willing to negotiate a nuclear weapons convention leading to global non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons, National Security Advisor MK Narayanan has said here.

Addressing an international security conference in Munich on Friday, the NSA said: "If this conference succeeds in not merely addressing the issue of nuclear reductions but also devise pathways to their elimination, this might well be the transforming moment for the global community."

"Non-proliferation cannot be an end in itself, and has to be linked to effective nuclear disarmament. Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation should be seen as mutually re-inforcing processes. Effective disarmament must enhance the security of all states and not merely that of a few," he said while speaking on "Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Future of Nuclear Weapons; Is Zero Possible?"

"Even today, India is perhaps the only nuclear weapons state to express its readiness to negotiate a Nuclear Weapons Convention leading to global, non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons."

Recalling former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's stark warning when he presented his action plan to the UN general assembly in 1988, Narayanan said it was by far the most comprehensive initiative for complete elimination of all nuclear weapons in stages by 2010.

This included covering issues ranging from nuclear testing and cessation of production of fissile material for nuclear weapons to a time-bound elimination of stockpiles.

As concrete steps towards this end, Narayanan mentioned reaffirmation of the unequivocal commitment of all states possessing nuclear weapons to the goal of complete elimination of nuclear weapons, reduction of the salience of nuclear weapons in security doctrines and adoption of measures to reduce nuclear dangers, including preventing the unintentional or accidental use of nuclear weapons.

 

[nitesh]

ooooo

The Hindu News Update Service

Indian American physicist Shiva Subramanya dead

Washington (IANS): India-born US nuclear physicist Shiva Subramanya is dead. He was 76, a family member said Friday.

Subramanya, who was a space scientist and a management consultant, was twice nominated to the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.

Born April 8, 1933 in Holenarasipura, Hassan District of Karnataka, he died Jan 8, 2009 in California, US.

He went to the US to pursue PhD in nuclear physics from Clark University and went on to study MBA from California State University and did Doctor of Business Administration from Nova University, Florida. He also held numerous special diplomas.

Subramanya was the chairman of the military-industry committee, which draws-up the policy, procedures and operations concepts for the US military including USAF Space Command until his retirement in 1998.

He was national president of Indian Professional Forum, US - an organisation of scientists and engineers of Indian origin. He was also the vice-president of Viswa Hindu Parishad (America).

 

[Neo]

Russia, India sign $700 million in nuclear fuel deals​

MOSCOW (February 12 2009): Russia signed more than $700 million in deals on Wednesday to supply India's nuclear reactors with fuel pellets, Russia's state-owned nuclear company said in a statement. Major nuclear powers - including Russia, European states and the United Sates - are scrambling to sell nuclear services to India, which is trying to build new generation capacity to cope with a projected increase in demand for energy.

Atomenergoprom said its nuclear fuel unit, TVEL, and Indian nuclear officials signed the deals in Mumbai on Wednesday. "The total cost of contracts is more than $700 million," it said, adding it was the first long-term nuclear fuel contract signed with India since the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group last September lifted a ban on nuclear trade with India. The ban was imposed after India's first nuclear test in 1974 and for its refusal to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).