Construction work at the nuclear power plant in Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu in January 2013.
An agreement with the Canadian company CAMECO, one of the world’s largest uranium producers, was one of the highlights of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent three-nation (Germany, France, and Canada) trip. CAMECO will supply India with 3,000 tonnes of uranium over six years, enough to keep 2,300 megawatts (MW) of India’s 5,780 MW of nuclear-power plants running. A similar agreement was concluded with Uzbekistan in 2013, and India is trying to close a fuel supply agreement with Australia, which has the world’s largest reserves of uranium. These agreements are in addition to those already inked with Russia and Kazakhstan.| Table 1: India’s Nuclear Fuel Supply Agreements | |
|---|---|
| Firm/Country | Agreements for supply of nuclear fuel (year of signing) |
| Areva, France | 300 tonne uranium ore concentrate (2008) |
| TVEL Corporation, Russia |
|
| NAC Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan | 2,100 tonne uranium ore concentrate over 6 years (2009) |
| NMMC, Uzbekistan | 2,000 tonne uranium ore concentrate of 5 years (2013) |
| CAMECO, Canada | 3,000 tonne uranium ore concentrate over 6 years (2015) |
Source: Press Information Bureau
These agreements may be part of the solution to India’s air pollution problems. India is trying to move away from using coal, which accounts for almost 80% of India’s electricity generation and is highly polluting. Nuclear power accounts for 3.5% of India’s electricity generation and 1.3% of India’s total energy consumption, but the government has set some ambitious targets. It wants to triple nuclear power plant capacity by 2024 from 4,780 MW in 2014 (5,780 MW now). A more recent and extremely ambitious goal is a target of 63,000 MW by 2031-32. Nuclear energy does not emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants—major concerns, given the air-quality crisis in Indian cities and the widespread economic effects of local and global climate change. However, nuclear power comes with potentially catastrophic safety risks, which India hopes to keep under check. Other countries weigh the risks similarly, although Germany intends to close nuclear plants by 2022.| Table 2: Share Of Coal, Nuclear power, Oil and Gas In Energy Mix Of Major Economies (%) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Coal | Nuclear | Oil | Gas |
| US | 20.1 | 8.3 | 36.7 | 29.6 |
| Germany | 25.0 | 6.8 | 34.5 | 23.2 |
| France | 4.9 | 38.6 | 32.3 | 15.5 |
| Russia | 13.4 | 5.6 | 21.9 | 53.2 |
| UK | 18.3 | 8.0 | 34.9 | 32.9 |
| India | 54.5 | 1.3 | 29.5 | 7.8 |
| China | 67.5 | 0.9 | 17.8 | 5.1 |
| World | 30.1 | 4.4 | 32.9 | 23.7 |
Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2014
China, the biggest user of coal globally (and the biggest polluter) is also trying to aggressively move to nuclear power. China’s target: 58,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020 and 150,000 MW by 2030–this is a key component of China’s plans to increase the share of non-fossil fuels (excluding coal, oil, gas) from less than 10% now to 15% by 2020 and 20% by 2030. The problem with nuclear fuel Arranging affordable nuclear-fuel supply has been a challenge for India. India is currently saddled with 23,000 MW gas-based power plants, almost idle for want of fuel. Electricity from gas is also 2-3 times costlier than nuclear power depending on gas prices, a concern in an emerging economy. But scaling up nuclear energy is a problem. Of 5,780 MW of nuclear-power capacity that India operates, 3,380 MW relies on imported fuel. Domestic uranium supplies are enough only for the remaining 2,400 MW. Historically, India’s nuclear power programme has been constrained by a uranium shortage. The programme started to grow only after the Indo-US nuclear agreement of 2008, which allowed India to import nuclear fuel and ink agreements with fuel suppliers (see Table 1). India has 3,800 MW of nuclear-power capacity under construction and another 43,100 MW is proposed. Of this, 1,000 MW of under-construction capacity and 31,900 MW of proposed nuclear capacity will be built in collaboration with companies from the US, France and Russia. For these reactors, the contractors must provide fuel throughout a plant’s life, which can last up to 50 years. For the remaining 14,000 MW of indigenously designed nuclear capacity, India needs to source fuel. Domestic uranium supplies, as we explained, are inadequate. Moreover, domestic uranium also has other uses—to build nuclear weapons—and using it only for fuel is not something India would like to do. How much uranium does India need? India imports uranium in three forms:- Uranium ore concentrate (also referred to as yellowcake). Here, uranium is in form of U3O8.
- Uranium dioxide pellets. Here, uranium is in form of UO2.
- Enriched uranium dioxide pellets
- A 220-MW PWR requires 45 tons of uranium dioxide for a year of operations.
- India has 8 such reactors in operation under IAEA safeguards–these will require approximately 360 tons of uranium dioxide annually.
- India has an additional 620 MW of other reactors under IAEA safeguards. Assuming similar fuel burn, these reactors need 126 tons of uranium dioxide.
- Current requirement is 486 tons/year of uranium dioxide.
- A 700-MW PWR requires 125 tons of uranium dioxide for a year of operations
- India is building 4 such reactors which should be complete by 2019–fuel requirement is 500 tons/year.
- 4 more reactors of 700 MW should be completed by 2024–another 500 tons/year of uranium dioxide.
- A further 10 reactors adding to 7,000 MW are proposed for the future–1,250 tons/year.
- A 1,000-MW LWR requires 25 tons of low-enriched uranium for a year of operations at 90% capacity.
- India currently has a single LWR of 1,000 MW—so our need is for 25 tons of low-enriched uranium.
- India is close to commissioning a second LWR of 1,000 MW—also at Kudankulam.
- The 58 tons (2009) and 42 tons (2015) of enriched uranium dioxide pellets imported from Russia are most likely for these reactors. Russia is responsible for supplying fuel to these reactors.
- Foreign suppliers (GE, Westinghouse, Areva) will be responsible for supplying fuel to the reactors they are building.
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