India powers forward with nuclear plan

Electrification has been completed in more than 15,000 villages since 2015

NEW DELHI — India continues to make dramatic headway in its power generation plan, helped by an increase in nuclear plants.

The country now has 22, mainly in the south and west, with a generation capacity of 6,780 megawatts. And there are plans for more.

The improvements are easy to see. Remote villages in large agrarian states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Odisha, which used to have power for only two to three hours a day, now get electricity for more than 20 hours a day.

According to official figures as of December 2017, in the past three years electrification was successfully completed in more than 15,000 villages, while the remaining 2,200 are targeted to be electrified by May this year.

The Indian government has committed to providing affordable round-the-clock electricity to all households by 2019.

The power supply situation has improved due to a considerable increase in nuclear power generation capacity over the years.

During French President

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Emmanuel Macron’s recent India visit, the two sides reiterated their goal of starting work on the Jaitapur nuclear power plant site by the end of 2018, and encouraged both the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and EDF, France’s national electricity utility, to accelerate contractual discussions.

Once installed, the Jaitapur project will be the largest of its kind in the world, with a total capacity of 9.6 gigawatts.

It will contribute, in addition to renewable energy, to achieving India’s goal of 40 percent non-fossil energy by 2030. France has also promised uninterrupted and continued access to a guaranteed fuel supply for the lifetime of the Jaitapur plants, collaboration on transfer of technology and cost-effective localization efforts of manufacturing in India.

But self-reliance is India’s ultimate aim, and last year it built 10 700 MW “Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors”, which were designed and constructed domestically.

Rajiv Nayan, a senior research associate at Delhibased think tank Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, said India will soon emerge as a major nuclear power supplier.

“Now we are about to finish two 700 MW reactors in Rajasthan. We are going to higher capacity, maybe 1,100 MW or 1,500 MW. India is not getting swayed by any global trend because we ourselves have invested a lot in nuclear energy.”

‘Cheaper’ construction

According to the Nayan, the financial difficulties being faced by global companies such as Westinghouse, which filed for bankruptcy last year, doesn’t mean that India should also abandon its own nuclear power generation program.

“Now its construction will be cheaper, thanks to the 2008 exemptions, some critical goods and technology will be made available easily. And, India can exploit the situation. Once our fast breeder reactor is ready India’s nuclear basket will have more indigenous constructed reactors,” Nayan said.

Kalpakkam is a 500-MW fast breeder reactor, and there will be four of them. Once it is done, India will be well ahead of others because all others have abandoned fast breeder reactors. But India is continuing with it, said Nayan.

The improvements in Bihar state illustrate why, with residents having access to electricity for 22 to 24 hours a day.