Did you know that in Energy Sector:

1. India, home to 18% of the world’s population (1.3 billion), uses only 6% of the world’s primary energy.
2. In India, around 240 million people have no access to electricity.
3. Putting manufacturing at the heart of India’s growth model means a large rise in the energy needed to fuel India’s development.
4. Energy consumption per capita is still only around one-third of the global average.
5. Coal remains the backbone of the Indian power sector, accounting for over 70% of generation.
6. Three-quarters of Indian energy demand is met by fossil fuels, it is rising!
7. India was the world’s third-largest importer of crude oil in 2014, but is also a major exporter of oil products, thanks to a large refining sector.
8. India has 45 GW of hydropower and 23 GW of wind power capacity, but has barely tapped its huge potentials for the renewable energy.
9. The country’s electricity demand in 2013 was 897 terawatt-hours (TWh), up from 376 TWh in 2000, having risen over this period at an average annual rate of 6.9%.
10. Annual residential electricity consumption per capita in India (for those with access) – India average in 2013 was 200 kWh.
11. On the supply side, India has some 290 gigawatts5 (GW) of power generation capacity, of which coal (60%) makes up by far the largest share, followed by hydropower (15%) and natural gas (8%).
12. Primary energy demand in India by fuel is: 44% (Coal); 23% (Oil); 24% (Bio mass); 6% (Natural Gas), (1% nuclear) and 2% other renewables.
13. Oil consumption in 2014 stood at 3.8 million barrels per day (mb/d), 40% of which is used in the transportation sector. Over 90% of energy demand in the transport sector in India is from road transport.
14. India has relatively modest oil resources and most of the proven reserves (around 5.7 billion barrels) are located in the western part of the country, notably in Rajasthan and in offshore areas near Gujarat and Maharashtra.
15. Wind power has made the fastest progress and provides the largest share of modern non-hydro renewable energy in power generation to date. India has the fifth-largest amount of installed wind power capacity in the world.
16. Solar power has played only a limited role in power generation thus far, with installed capacity reaching 3.7 GW in 2014. The target for wind power was dramatically upgraded in 2014 to 100 GW of solar installations by 2022,
17. Nuclear power played a very limited role (1%) in the power sector. India has twenty-one operating nuclear reactors at seven sites, with a total installed capacity close to 6 GW. Another six nuclear power plants are under construction, which will add around 4 GW to the total. The average plant load factor rose to over 80% in 2013 from 40% in 2008.
18. India has 13 of the world’s 20 most-polluted cities and an estimated 660 million people in areas in which the government’s own national air quality standards are not met. (Extracted from International Energy Agency's Special report 2015) 

Non-proliferation Treaty and India-Japan nuclear deal

Non-proliferation treaty (NPT) of nuclear weapons is an international treaty entered into force in 1970. The main objective of the Treaty is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and technology, and to promote peaceful uses of nuclear energy. A total of 191 states have joined the Treaty and four stats, viz., India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan never joined the Treaty. The Treaty recognizes only 5 states as nuclear-weapon states. They are US, Russia, UK, France and China. 

Japan is the only country which suffered attacks by nuclear weapons and is very particular that the treaty is respected by all the countries. India is not a signatory to the NPT and wants to strike a nuclear deal with Japan.

During the negotiations, Japan is putting forward conditions such as: tracking of the nuclear fuel, accounting and tight management of plutonium generated by reprocessing the spent fuel and clauses in the India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act (CLND)-2010.

The clause of Part liability of nuclear plant manufacturers in the event of nuclear accidents in a matter another concern for Japan. Management of nuclear accidents and mitigation measures are very highly cost-intensive and even though the government is planning special insurance to cover the huge expenditure involved, are the insurance companies are able to cope up with the claims? Finally, will Japan will do nuclear business with India which is now a nuclear-armed country and not a signatory to NPT? 

Nuclear desalination of sea water is THE answer

Nuclear desalination is the answer for the world-wide short supply of potable water. One-fifth of the world’s population does not have access to safe drinking water! Without water, one cannot imagine any sustainable development taking place. Brackish or sea water and treatment of urban waste water can be converted to fresh water by nuclear desalination.  

Use of nuclear energy is a much cost competitive method as compared to fossil fuels for desalination, and it has a great potential. Desalination of sea water is used in Middle East and North African countries. Many countries already are into this technology for producing potable water.  China is building 1 million cubic meter per day RO plant to supply water to Beijing. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is fostering research and collaboration in the technology in its Member States.

One of the impotent cost-effective technologies used for desalination is Reverse Osmosis (RO). Using electric pumps, sea water is pressurized and forced through semi-permeable membrane against its osmotic pressure. The salt content of the water gets removed. The process is driven by electricity driven pumps. However, the feed water needs to be filtered in this technique. High operating pressure of the order of 55 to 82 bars are required for desalination of sea water. As proved by Australia, renewable energy (CO₂ free) sources can be used for desalination.

Multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation process uses steam. It works by flashing a portion of the water into steam in multiple stages in counter-current heat exchangers and this method for desalination accounted for 23% of the world capacity in 2012. It is more energy intensive process, but can cope with suspended solids and any degree of salinity. There are many other processes such as Multiple-effect distillation (MED) that can be used for desalination

Nuclear desalination studies using small and medium sized nuclear reactors are carried out in US and France. IAEA reports, based on the IAEA Coordinated Research Programs in Kazakhstan, India and Japan, are available which give details on nuclear desalination of sea water. Indicative costs are US$ 70 – 90 cents/cubic metre.

In India, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has undertaken extensive research in the field of nuclear desalination since the 1970s, and thermal desalination process, Multi Stage Flash (MSF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) process were successfully demonstrated. A demonstration scale hybrid MSF-RO desalination plant coupled to a nuclear power plant at MAPS, Kalpakkam (Tamilnadu) is designed to provide around 6300 cubic metre of desalted water per day. Low pressure steam is gainfully used here. A mechanical vapour compression plant is reported to be set up at Kudankulam (Tamilnadu) to supply fresh water for the plant’s requirement of cooling water.

A low temperature nuclear desalination plant uses decay heat from radioactive waste for desalination. Heat from the high-level waste packages seems to have great potential to meet the requirement of nuclear desalination. Instead of disposal in geological repositories, the decay heat from the high level waste should be utilised to meet heating and steam requirements of a desalination plant. The potable water thus produced can be used at all the nuclear sites and residential areas in coastal areas of India.   

Radiation technology for cleaning of air pollution

IAEA supported project in Poland employs a radiation technology – electron beam accelerator facility to treat flue gases from coal-driven power plants, thus reducing the emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can cause damage human health and the environment. Acid rains in and around the site are the result of the acidic pollutants.   

The technology is useful in countries which produce electricity by coal/oil combustion and required to meet pollution control regulations. Unlike other conventional technologies, the use of electron beam accelerator technology removes 95% of sulphur dioxide, and 70% of nitrogen oxides present in flue gases. The by-product is high quality fertilizer for use in agriculture. Not much of secondary waste! 

It is a proven green technology according to the Director General of the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Poland (source: www.iaea.org) 

Billions of dollars’ nuclear industry's predicament?

BIER Report VII: Biologic Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) develops the most up-to-date and comprehensive risk estimates for cancer due to exposure to radiation.

The report which gives results of the life time cancer risk calculation using mathematical models from an exposure of 100 mSv dose to a typical US population. The calculations predicted one individual in 100 persons would be expected to develop solid cancer or leukemia. This can be compared with the expected 42 cancer cases that would be developed in 100 persons spontaneously due to other causes!

Risk is lower at lower exposures. Similar calculations for a lower dose of 10 mSv predict one out of 1000 exposed individual would develop cancer. However, it is very difficult due to statistical limitations, to predict reliable number of cancers at these low levels of exposure. Now, 100 mSv is the occupational dose limit for radiation workers for 5-year period, average of 20 mSv per year. The world average natural background radiation is 2.4 mSv in a year to which all of us are exposed. Average radiation exposure of the occupational workers, in general, is in the range of natural background radiation levels.

Under such situations of uncertainty how one can assume that at low doses, the cancer risk is linearly lower?  It is quite possible that the risks are lower than predicted by LNT model or non-existent or even beneficial to health. There is also no direct evidence of increased risk of non-cancer diseases at low doses.    

Now why at all assume existence of cancer risk at such low levels of radiation and impede progress of the nuclear industry worth billions of dollars? 

[The BIER VII document: Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation is available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, 2006]