700 MWE LIGHT WATER REACTORS TO BE BUILT INDIGENOUSLY
Posted on: 12/Oct/2010 1:39:25 AM
India is poised to build light water reactors (LWRs) on its own, each generating 700 MWe. They will use enriched uranium as fuel and light water as both coolant and moderator. According to S.K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited [NPCIL] that Basic designs have been completed. Mr. Jain was speaking during a conference on Asian Nuclear Prospects.
The present two LWRs in operation at Tarapur in Maharashtra are by the United States. Two in Kudankulam in Tamilnadu with assistance from Russia are under construction.
The safety analysis report is under preparation shall be submitted to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board [AERB], according to Mr Jain.
He added that they were undertaking a detailed equipment design and experiments to validate the various designs and tool fabrication and that All this would take three to four years as per their target.
Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Srikumar Banerjee who was a participant in the conference said that India was working towards development of indigenous LWRs of large size of 700 MWe capacity.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has alreadydemonstrated its expertise in LWR technology by building an 80 MWt LWR that will power nuclear-powered submarine Arihant, which was launched in July 2009.
As a forerunner to the LWR installed onboard the Arihant, the BARC built an 80 MWt LWR, also called Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR), at Kalpakkam, 60 km from Chennai. The PWR at Kalpakkam and the submarine version are on a 1:1 scale.
India is also planning to import 36 LWRs, with a total capacity of 40,000 MWe, from Russia, France and the U.S. These include the two under construction at Kudankulam.
The reactors will come up at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, Kudankulam, Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh, Mithi Verdi in Gujarat, Haripur in West Bengal, and Sonepur in Orissa.
Mr. Jain said the NPCIL would build 16 Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 700 MWe each. The ground-break had taken place for four of these — two each at Kakrapar in Gujarat and Rawatbhatta in Rajasthan. Two other sites where the 700 MWe PHWRs would be built are Kumharia in Haryana and Bargi in Madhya Pradesh.
