Niti Aayog member and scientist VK Saraswat on Sunday suggested that the government should focus on setting up small modular reactors as it would help meet the country’s energy needs and also replace aging thermal power plants. Saraswat also said that nuclear power projects that have been set up under fleet mode generation should be accelerated so that India can meet its base load requirements as soon as possible. “We propose that in the future we should go for small modular reactors that will be able to meet these (energy) requirements in a distributed way. “And we also think this will be the best approach to replace the aging thermal plants,” he told in an interview.
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors that have a capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per block, which is about one-third the production capacity of traditional nuclear reactors. In fleet mode, the nuclear power plant is expected to be built for five years from the first pouring of concrete. According to Saraswat, the advantage of the advanced modular reactor is that it is made in a factory and can be operated by any agency, and there could also be more private sector participation.
Currently, India operates 22 reactors with a total capacity of 6,780 MW. Last year in December, Minister of State and Department of Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh said that the share of nuclear power in the country’s total electricity generation will be about 3.1 percent in 2020-21.”The net zero targets are expected to be met through a combination of various sources of clean energy, including nuclear power. In this context, it is planned to increase the current nuclear power capacity of 6,780 MW to 22,480 MW by 2031 after the gradual completion of projects under construction and sanctioned .More nuclear reactors are planned in the future,” Singh said.
Saraswat, former head of the Defense Research and Development Organization, responded to a question about India’s energy security: “As such, our energy security has improved drastically because we are no longer an energy-starved country.”He claimed that today India meets all its energy requirements domestically.”In terms of electricity generation, we are better off. We have solar power which is almost the cheapest in the world… And the cost of setting up a solar power plant has come down,” noted Saraswat.
Asked to respond to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s claim that the Center was forcing states to import coal for thermal power plants, Sarasawat said these statements needed to be looked into.”Coal is being imported, in the case of offshore power plants. For offshore power plants, it is cheaper to import coal compared to trans-state transportation, for example from Odisha to the south in Karnataka,” he argued. Asserting that coal has been made available to all thermal plants, Saraswat said, “Landlocked states which already have thermal plants are supplying coal even though the load has increased.”
For example, he recalled that during this summer the loads peaked and there were praises and cries due to the availability of coal for power plants.”And by working with the railways in tandem, we have been able to provide coal (to power plants across states). So the management of what is called increased demand has been done very effectively,” Saraswat said. Recently, Rao had alleged that the BJP-led NDA government was corrupt and the government at the Center would be replaced and there would be an inquiry into wrongdoings like coal import pressure on states.
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