India Needs to Go Nuclear

Why in News?

• India’s economy is expected to surpass Germany and Japan and move up from number five to number three position before the end of this decade.
• With economic growth, a significant growth in India’s primary energy consumption (most of which is currently fossil based)will go up which is already the third-highest globally.

The Energy Requirement to Support a Developed India

• India aspires to reach a Human Development Index (HDI) comparable to advanced countries of the world.
• For this, India needs a minimum of 2,400-kilogram oil equivalent (kgoe) energy consumption per capita per year.
• This threshold could improve to around 1,400 kgoe, as a result of expected improvements in energy use efficiency.
• Even after considering this, the total clean energy requirement to support a developed India would work out to around 25,000 — 30,000 TWhr/yr.
• This is more than four times India’s present energy consumption.

Major Concerns in Meeting Energy Requirement

• Fossil Energy- Major Contributor to Global Warming
  • Fossil fuel consumption is a major contributor to global warming, which has now become an existential crisis for humanity.
  • Therefore, deep and immediate emission cuts, leading to net zero, have become unavoidable.
  • There is now a global consensus to reach the net zero goal in the 2045-2070-time frame.
• Hurdles in Achieving Net Zero Target
  • Transition to net zero involves massive transformation of energy systems which involves new technologies, restructuring of energy systems at supply-and-demand ends and large costs.
  • For a large and developing country like India, the challenge of reaching net zero is much bigger. 
• Unable to Meet Per Capita Energy Demand in the Long Term
  • India’s developmental aspirations require a manifold increase in per-capita energy use, along with transitions to net-zero GHG emission.
  • The inability to meet this dual challenge would mean either compromising on development or failing to realise the net-zero target timeframe or both.

Will the Deployment of Renewable Energy meet India’s Anticipated Energy Demand?

• While India is rightfully making rapid strides in deployment of renewable energy including hydro, would this alone enable us to become an advanced country? The answer is no.
• Hypothetically, even if the entire barren uncultivable land in India is used up for setting up solar plants (which, clearly, is not possible), it would still fall way short of the target.
• The potential of wind energy is even smaller. The only way out then is a rapid scale-up of nuclear energy. 

The Importance of Nuclear Energy

• Cleanest and Safest
  • Today, nuclear energy has emerged as one of the cleanest and safest of energies capable of effectively countering climate change.
  • Since India is pursuing a closed nuclear fuel cycle, waste issue is also reduced to a negligible level.
  • Best Option Available for India to Meet Net Zero Target
  • According to a study done by Vivekananda International Foundation, nuclear energy would need to be scaled up to a couple of thousand GWe for an optimum solution to reach net-zero in a developed India.
  • On the technology front, India is capable of self-reliance.

What Should be India’s National Strategy for a Rapid Scale-Up of Nuclear Energy?

• Use of Indigenous 700 MWe PHWR (Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor) as Prime Work House
  • In a milestone for India’s nuclear power production, this is the first indigenously-developed 700 MWe nuclear power reactor at Kakrapar, Gujarat.
  • Fifteen more such units are already under construction in fleet mode. One should take up many such fleets for implementation leveraging multiple PSUs in addition to NPCIL.
• Development of Indigenous SMRs (Small Modular Reactors)
  • India’s strategy should be to build indigenous SMRs at a large number of sites that would be vacated by retiring coal plants in the coming decades.
  • As the experience with large PWRs has shown, importing these units would make electricity production unaffordable.
  • NTPC, being the owner of the largest number of coal plants in the country, is a natural partner in this process. More industrial partners could be involved.
• Use of 220 Mwe PHWR and AHWR300-LEU
  • Well-proven 220 MWe PHWR units can be offered as partially owned captive units for electricity and hydrogen for energy-intensive industries such as metals, chemicals, and fertilisers.
  • AHWR300-LEU developed by BARC can also be offered for this role after demonstrating a prototype.
• Development of a High Temperature Reactor
  • India should develop a high temperature reactor for direct hydrogen production without resorting to electrolysis. BARC has the requisite capability.
  • This would enable cheaper green hydrogen production and reduce pressure on excessive electrification of the energy system in the country, which otherwise appears inevitable.
  • Also, India should speed up second and third stage nuclear-power programme development to unleash thorium energy potential in accordance with the pre-existing plans for long-term sustainable energy supply.
• Deployment of New Nuclear-Energy Capacity
  • Emerging-economies, where one expects maximum net growth in energy consumption, should see rapid deployment of new nuclear-energy capacity to credibly address the climate-change challenge at the global level.
  • India’s PHWRs are globally competitive both in terms of performance and capital cost and are a good fit for meeting these requirements.
  • Thorium-HALEU fuel in PHWR can make these reactors even more attractive in terms of economics, safety, waste management and proliferation resistance.
  • India should encash this opportunity through piloting a major international co-operation for global efforts to address climate change challenges.

Conclusion

• Reaching 25,000-30,000 TWh per year from where India is today by the year 2070 corresponds to a CAGR of around 4.8 per cent. To achieve this, leveraging nuclear energy in a significant way is inevitable.
• India can certainly implement this, provided it is driven as a national programme guided by a bold policy support that provides a level playing field for nuclear energy on par with renewable energy.

Q1) What is the difference between boiling water reactors and PHWRs?

In BWRs (boiling water reactors) and PWRs (pressurised water reactors), collectively known as LWRs (light water reactors), the light water (H2O) coolant is also the moderator. PHWRs (pressurised heavy water reactors) use heavy water (deuterium oxide, D2O) as moderator.

Q2) What are concerns related to just energy transition in India?

A just transition in India requires more attention to socioeconomic aspects as mine closures affect a large number of informal workers, upending lives and livelihoods that require support through reskilling and economic diversification. For example, Coal India alone employs more than a quarter million people and a few million more are directly or indirectly involved in its washeries, transport, and ancillary services. Hence India argues that coal cannot be singled out as a polluting fuel, and energy transition talks need to take place on equal terms.

Source: The Indian Express