India’s n-power project in jeopardy after French safety audit

There is tremendous opposition to the project not just from environmentalists but also residents of the site of the project, the village of Jaitapur, 600 km south of Mumbai in Maharashtra. The villagers are worried about the large amount of land that would be acquired for construction of the six reactors and other facilities. There are numerous other issues with Jaitapur. The first relates to the choice of the reactors, the EPR

An independent audit has been ordered into the entire European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) project under implementation at Flamanville nuclear power plant, the French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said. The plant has been under construction in north-western France since 2007. The orders came barely a fortnight after the French Nuclear Safety Agency, ASN, ordered EDF, the constructor of the plant, to repair at least eight key welded joints that had not been done in accordance with safety regulations.

The delay and the audit will have a serious impact on the India-based Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra, which has been delayed for over a decade despite a basic agreement between India’s Nuclear Power Corporation (NPCIL) and France’s EDF.

Proposed nearly two decades ago, the EPR was positioned as a state-of-the-art nuclear power technology and Areva, the then nuclear power company of France, began construction of the first project using EPRs in Flamanville, in 2007. More strikingly, even before its first reactor had been built and proven to be viable, Areva started aggressively marketing the technology to customers around the world, including India. But the EPR has been a flop, at least so far. And Flamanville has become a national symbol of industrial shame and disaster for France, arguably the global leader in nuclear power technology, which accounts for over 70 % of French electricity production, at extremely reasonable rates.

The audit puts a huge question mark first on the Flamanville project, especially as the latest deadline for the startup of the project given by EDF, which acquired an ailing Areva a few years ago, is barely two months away.

In 2008, India and France had decided to collaborate to build a 9.9 GW nuclear power plant with six reactors of 1650 MW each. The project was touted as the largest industrial project to be undertaken in India and a major plank of Indo-French relations. However, in the decade since that announcement, there has been little progress on the project and a lot has indeed changed in the global energy scenario, which raises existential questions about the feasibility and the need for such a large nuclear power project.

There is tremendous opposition to the project not just from environmentalists but also residents of the site of the project, the village of Jaitapur, 600 km south of Mumbai in Maharashtra. The villagers are worried about the large amount of land that would be acquired for construction of the six reactors and other facilities.

There are numerous other issues with Jaitapur. The first relates to the choice of the reactors, the EPR. It is surprising that India opted for an entirely untried and untested technology. It does not help that even the few EPR projects under construction or planned have been bogged down by problems, including severe delays and extremely high cost overruns.

The fate of other EPRs under construction is not very different from Flamanville. The construction of world’s first EPR began in 2003 at Olkiluoto in Finland. Expected to be completed in 2009, the project has also suffered numerous delays and the latest pushback was announced in November last year, pushing the date of operationalisation to 2020.

Safety is another big reason behind Jaitapur residents’ opposition to the project. France and India also have to walk the tightrope over the controversial issue of the ultimate responsibility related to safety.

While Indian law holds the equipment suppliers and constructors liable for any accidents that may occur, the French are hardly keen to engage in any venture with unlimited liability, especially when the plant would be operated by the Indian nuclear power producer, NPCIL. The economic viability of the project is also questionable. Though the final cost of Jaitapur is yet to be ascertained, if Flamanville’s one unit is expected to cost upwards of Euro 11 billion, the final cost of six reactors would be safely in the vicinity of Euro 70 billion.

Moreover, the entire energy scenario in India has changed over the last decade, making Jaitapur look more like a white elephant than a much needed power source.