Historical Background

Indias nuclear program was set up in 1948, with the introduction of an Atomic Energy Bill in the Constituent Assembly by Indias first prime minister. As a non-signee to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, India was excluded from international trading on nuclear commodities for many years. Its nuclear power plants were therefore built up largely without external help or consultation, and outside of the safety standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

 In 2008, the international trading ban was lifted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, opening the door for foreign countries that wished to trade nuclear equipment and fuel with India, fenced for civilian (non-weaponry) purposes.

Indian Nuclear Energy- Timeline

1947: India becomes independent 1948: Atomic Energy Commission established 1956: Negotiates with U.S & Canada for nuclear reactor 1962: War with China 1963: Two research reactors & four nuclear plants in operation

 1964: China detonates nuclear bomb 1965: War with Pakistan over Kashmir 1968: India refuses to sign nuclear nonproliferation treaty 1974: India performs 15kt Peaceful Nuclear Explosion. US & Canada suspend their nuclear cooperation with India. 1998: India detonates both fission and fusion devices

 1999: Indian population exceeds 1 billion. Kargil War with Pakistan. Pakistan threatens to use nuclear weapons 2006: President Bush declares India a Nuclear Power 2008: NSG approves trade with India.US-India Nuclear deal signed

Indias three stage nuclear programme

Stage-I envisages construction of natural uranium, heavy water moderated and cooled pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs). Spent fuel from these reactors is reprocessed to obtain plutonium. Stage-II evisages construction of fast breeder reactors (FBRs) fuelled by plutonium produced in Stage-I. These reactors would also breed U-233 from thorium. Stage-III would comprise power reactors using U-233 / thorium as fuel.

NPCIL
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is a Public Sector Enterprise under the administrative control of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India its the only utility that deals with civilian nuclear power in India. The company was registered as a Public Limited Company under the Companies Act of1956 in September 1987, with the objective of operating atomic power stations and implementing atomic power projects for generation of electricity

Nuclear Plants of India

In India, we have 20 nuclear reactors in 6 nuclear power plants generating 4,780MW. 5 more plants under construction are expected to add another 2,720 while we have an ambitious target of about 64,000MW by 2032.

structural damages that have occurred in Indias civilian nuclear power sector
April 2011 Fire alarms blare in the control room of the Kaiga Generating Station in Karnataka. November 2009 Fifty-five employees consume radioactive material after irritated water finds its way into the drinking water cooler in Kaiga Generating Station. April 2003 Six tonnes leak of heavy water at reactor II of the Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) in Uttar Pradesh

 January 2003 Failure of a valve in the Kalpakkam Atomic Reprocessing Plant in Tamil Nadu results in the release of high-level waste, exposing six workers to high doses of radiation May 2002 Tritiated water leaks from a downgraded heavy water storage tank at the tank farm of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) 1&2 into a common dyke area. An estimated 22.2 Curies of radioactivity is released into the environment

 November 2001 A leak of 1.4 tonnes of heavy water at the NAPS I reactor, resulting in one worker receiving an internal radiation dose of 18.49 mSv April 2000 Leak of about seven tonnes of heavy water from the moderator system at NAPS Unit II. Various workers involved in the clean-up received significant uptakes of tritium

Pros and cons