Disposal of high level radioactive waste

High level wastes are generated in all operations involved in processing of spent nuclear fuel. At every public forum people connected with atomic energy are asked this question: How the department of atomic energy is going to manage this waste? Do we have any clear-cut answers? 

According to experts – NO is the answer.  

High level wastes are only stored under-ground.  The disposal option of burial in deep geological formations is yet to be realised in India. Why the delay is not yet answered. Any other mode of disposal is prone to be extremely unsafe in view of the possibility of occurrence of natural calamities such as tsunami, earthquake, and high floods, and attack by missiles.

Member of the public is of the opinion that the agencies concerned should give a most feasible reply of disposal of the waste in deep geological formations, and start doing it!

Rise in sea level went up since 1990s

This is the title of the news item in TOI dated June 28, 2017. What next?

The previously assumed leader of climate change deal, US President withdraws from the Paris Climate deal agreed, by over 200 nations, in December 2015. Now, the movement is without any strong leader to spearhead the compliance of the agreement by the nations.

As per the news item, the annual rate of sea level rise increased to 3.3 mm in 2014 from 2.2 mm in 1993. If it continues at the current rate it will rise to 33 mm in a century! Low lying coasts around the world will be under water.

In-spite of the melting of ice on land and the huge icebergs (floating mass of ice detached from a glacier and carried out to sea) in large quantities, the levels have arisen significantly for the simple reason that the volume created by the melting of ice is more than the volume of the water resulted from the melting of the ice. The space can easily accommodate the water without causing any rise in the sea level.

However, it is necessary that a popular and powerful leader should take up the responsibility to carry on this all important climate agreement so that the rise is contained to avoid flooding of sensitive industrial and nuclear installations which are located on the sea shores.

  

End of nuclear power? It is only the beginning!

There was a report in TOI dated 21^st may 2017 indicating that solar power is replacing nuclear power world-wide. Apparently, it may look like that, since widest possible negative publicity is given in the media for nuclear-related incidents and accidents highlighting trivial risk to the population by these occurrences. The risks are only on paper and there are hardly any fatalities related directly to the nuclear incidents/accidents, in real time.

Countries are spending disproportionately large amount of money on safety systems because mathematically some deaths can be predicted that too after two or three decades of exposures to radiation. This makes nuclear power a little more expensive than other modes of electricity generation. But things are changing fast! It is being proved that there are no observable health effects which can be directly attributed to exposure to low level radiation dose.

India should go for indigenous standardized nuclear power plants. Buy uranium from friendly countries. Reprocess spent uranium fuel to get fissile plutonium, a better nuclear fuel than uranium. Separate Cs-137 radionuclide which is the major part of the nuclear waste. Use this Cs-137 as radiation source for industrial applications, such as food irradiation or blood irradiator. The radiation safety scenario is creditable.  

Nuclear power is far less polluting than burning coal or oil in thermal power plants.

Uranium from sea water?

There was a news item in TOI dated 22 Feb. 2017 on “Harnessing N-Power from Oceans”.  Presence of naturally occurring radioactive materials like uranium and thorium in water, soil and rocks is known. However, the concentration of these materials in very low, in parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb). Recovering the elements at such low levels from such complex matrices is very difficult and not cost effective. Japanese and Indian researchers have done good amount of work in the extraction of uranium from sea water.

Uranium concentration in sea water is about 3 ppm (3 milligram of uranium in one cubic meter of sea water). If one multiplies this by the total volume of sea water, there will be billions of tons of uranium potentially available. As per Japanese study, the cost of uranium may work out to be over 300 USD per kg! May be, it can be the last desperate resort for producing uranium for power generation.

Do we have to resort this when other better options are available? Thorium is more abundant on the surface of the earth (ex. Monazite minerals on sea beaches). The thorium can be effectively utilised for power generation. India is one of the countries which extensively studied thorium fuel cycle for producing U-233 which is fissile material and can be used in nuclear reactors for producing power. Countries should focus on this instead of recovering uranium from sea water on commercial scale, at unimaginable cost.

Then there is unlimited fusion energy which can be harnessed. It is also satisfying to see the solar power being harnessed world-wide for producing electricity.  

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.