How India could increase its nuclear ambitions

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Saint-Paul-Alene is a small town of approximately 1,000 people in southern France, with a picturesque Château of the fifteenth century and a handful of stores.

However, his lovely picturesques were not the only reason that attracted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week. Saint-Paul-Ale-Durance is also the home of Cadarache, one of the world’s preeminent nuclear research centers.

The thermonuclear visit occurs after the Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, left aside $ 2.3 billion in the Federal Budget Earlier this month, to promote the development of nuclear energy generation in India.

“This initiative aims to improve domestic nuclear capabilities, promote private sector participation and accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRS),” said the government in a statement.

Small modular reactors, which produce less than 300 megawatts of electricity, have been promoted as the response to several challenges faced by the nuclear industry. The industry says that SMRS, which will be manufactured in modules in other places and assembled on the site, will reduce the time and cost of construction, which have tended to arrive several times the initial estimates.

In fact, the government says that it will build five modular reactors in less than a decade using funds, which helps reach its self -imposed Nuclear Energy Objective of 100 Gigadrosa for 2047. Nuclear energy represents approximately 3% of India’s generation capacity, with plans to increase the capacity of 6.7 gigawatts to 22.4 gigawatts by 2031.

While the objectives are certainly ambitious, the challenges seem discouraging, if not impossible to overcome. The International Energy Agency and Bernstein and Royal Bank of Canada investment banks, for example, say that India’s nuclear ambitions are simply unattainable.

Even with China’s history for infrastructure development, it took the first 15 years to establish its first Linglong modular reactor. Analysts say it will be “pleasantly surprising” if India will exceed this time scale.

“While absolutely deserves an attempt with all my heart by India: from the perspective of a stock market analyst, he is too far from being … with a price today,” said Bernstein analyst Nikhil Nigania. “There is a low probability that even (one) indigenous SMR would be operational in India by 2033 against (the five that the Government) has planned.”

Atomic demands

India may also have stumbled upon the first step.

A tender for a small 220 megawatt bharat reactor, which is not modular, puts all the financial risks of building a nuclear energy plant in the private sector, under the “Civil Liability Law for Nuclear Damage”, while state energy The NPCil company retains many of the benefits, including property and control of the energy plant.

The CND law, which sees companies and their suppliers in the hook for any nuclear accident in India, is seen by some experts in the industry such as the ruin of the private sector. They say that if it were not for the law, the construction of the world’s largest nuclear energy plant would now be underway in India.

The nuclear giant with the French state EDF, which operates more than 60 nuclear power plants in France and the United Kingdom, presented its plans in 2021 to build six units of reactors that would generate 9.6 gigawatts of carbon free energy. However, earlier this year, he said that the existence of the CND had prevented him from moving forward.

“In addition to the country’s risk, which includes a substantial fiscal dimension, the conditions related to the scope of nuclear responsibility in India must be met, and the project financing plan must be ensured before the final contracts are signed,” EDF said in a bond leaflet document issued earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the United States nuclear giant Westinghouse Electric Company proposed to build six 1,200 AP1000 megawatts, which have been tested and tested in the United States, as well as in China, more than a decade ago. However, no progress has been made in the treatment since then.

“Westinghouse, the supplier of high -production nuclear power plants, remains scared of sales to India with the absence of lasting guarantee of limited liability in case of accident,” said Ashley Tellis, a senior member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 2023.

The concerns have not gone unnoticed. The Indian government has said that it intends to amend laws that prevent companies such as EDF from entering the nuclear sector.

“For an active association with the private sector towards this objective, amendments will be taken to the Atomic Energy Law and the Civil Liability Law for Nuclear Damage,” said finance minister, Sithaman, in the budget discourse to Parliament.

However, amending the statute books is just a first step for India, since it seems to advance in the fulfillment of its nuclear objectives.

Scarce land

Another key factor that maintains the construction of these resounding machines has been to find adequate lands. The nuclear scares of the past, including the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster of 2011, have been repeatedly used by the locals to protest against the plants built in their backyard.

The base stone for the 1.4 Gigawatt Gorakhpur plant in the state of Haryana was placed in 2014, for example, however, it is not expected to produce a single energy juice until 2032, 18 years later.

But India is also learning from her experience.

Since finding land, and looking for a myriad of approval of the interested parties, is one of the processes that require a lot of time, the new plants currently in the planning stages are being implemented in a group of six reactors of the giga size.

Most of the existing plants of India are geographically dispersed and only have two or four reactors that have subgain production capacity each. The government now has around 6.5 Gigavats of reactors currently under construction that are extensions to existing nuclear power plants, which require less permits.

Today’s long deadlines do not mean that it has always been. The country has previously built reactors in five years, simply replicating known technologies in existing nuclear plant sizes.

Private companies

Private companies currently involved with nuclear energy projects, limited to the non -basic elements of a reactor, are also helping the construction process to be significantly more efficient.

For example, earlier this month, engineering firm Larsen and Toubro He delivered the steam generators that are expected to be installed at the Kaiga Atomic Energy Station in the southern state of Karnataka earlier than expected.

“L & T undertakes 6-8 steam generators 700 MWe every year and for the success of 220 MWE Bharat Small Reactor (BSR) to guarantee Net zero carbon emissions by 2070,” said Anil V parab, senior executive vice president Executive Executive Executive . of L&T Heavy Engineering in a statement.

Another way to reduce deadlines and increase the chances of achieving the ambitious objective of India is to associate with foreign entities, such as the EDF of France, for technological experience, according to analysts.

Russia supplies the underlying technology for the vast majority of nuclear plants in India, while France and the United States are leading fleet operators of nuclear energy reactors.

Would it be a surprise if nuclear were on Modi’s agenda while visiting Paris and Washington this week?