Page 33 - The Insurance Times September 2022

New nuclear power plants typically have high capital nuclear energy contribution in India will help the country
expenditure for building the plant. Fuel, operational, and lead towards a more sustainable and economic future.
maintenance costs are relatively small components of the
total cost. The long service life and high capacity factor of
nuclear power plants allow sufficient funds for ultimate plant
decommissioning and waste storage and management to
be accumulated, with little impact on the price per unit of
electricity generated. Additionally, measures to mitigate
climate change such as a carbon tax or carbon emissions
trading, would favor the economics of nuclear power over
fossil fuel power. Nuclear power construction costs have
varied significantly across the world and in time. Large and
rapid increases in cost occurred during the 1970s, especially
in the United States. There were no construction starts of Nuclear power is an efficient way of boiling water to create
nuclear power reactors between 1979 and 2012 in the steam; this steam is used to turn turbines, which creates
United States, and since then more new reactor projects electricity. Compared to other forms of renewable energy
have gone into bankruptcy than have been completed. Nuclear energy is considered beneficial, because of its
smaller land footprint and the amount of waste it produces.
Unlike in the past when nuclear plants were limited to a few Nuclear energy uses 360 times less amount of land as
states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the department compared to wind farms and 75 times less land as compared
has now moved northwards. We are going to have a nuclear to solar photovoltaic plants. Nuclear fuel is energy-dense as
project, the first of its kind, in North India just about 150 a 1-inch-tall Uranium pallet is equivalent to 120 gallons of
kms from here in a small township called Gorakhpur in oil and about 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The main
Haryana. The nuclear energy will soon emerge as one of the objective of India's nuclear energy program was the
most important sources of alternative or clean energy for utilization and development of Atomic energy for peaceful
the increasing power demand of the country. As far as the purposes.
cost is concerned, though it varies from plant to plant and
India wanted to develop a cheap and efficient power source
on the age of the plant, on an average it comes to about Rs
and use nuclear energy for various other research purposes
3 per unit and while the Kudankulam plant has about Rs 4
like basic sciences, astronomy, astrophysics, cancer research
per unit and Tarapur has lesser cost. it was during the tenure
and education. As the Indo-US nuclear pact of 2005 is yet
of this government that a bulk approval of 10 indigenous
to result in new projects with foreign aid, the Union
reactors was done in a single cabinet decision, which is a
Government is working on an indigenous nuclear power
record in itself and has never happened in the history of
programme with six pressurised heavy water reactors
independent India. The government took an out-of-box
(PHWRs) under construction and additional 10 approved.
decision of allowing the atomic energy department to enter
One of these standard 700 MW PHWRs - Kakrapar Atomic
into joint ventures, which was never happening before, and
Power Project (KAPP-3) in Gujarat - is poised to become
the insurance pool has also been increased.
operational this year. The Department of Atomic Energy
(DAE) is pursuing an ambitious plan to raise the share of
Nuclear energy in India nuclear power generation in the national pie. The present
Among all the developing nations, India is the only one to installed nuclear power capacity of 6,780 MW is expected
have generated electricity using indigenously developed, to reach 22,480 MW by 2031 on the completion of projects
demonstrated, and deployed nuclear reactors. India ranks under construction.
third in terms of electricity production worldwide by Operable Reactors Under Reactors
producing 1207 TWh of electricity. Nuclear energy is the Reactors Construction Shutdown
fifth-largest source of electricity for India. India also stands
at seventh position in terms of the number of nuclear
reactors, with over 23 nuclear reactors in 7 power plants 23 8 0
across the country which produces 6780 MW of nuclear
power. With an aim to increase its atomic power
contribution from 3.2% to 5% by 2031, this surge in the 6,885 MWe 6,082 MWe 0 MWe

The Insurance Times, September 2022 33