Events & Issues

New Delhi, 21 March 2011

Japan’s N Catastrophe

OPT FOR CHEAP SOLAR ENERGY

By Col. (Dr.) P. K. Vasudeva (Retd)

Earthquake, tsunami, and now a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan are the world’s worst catastrophe since World War II. Japan is not only fighting to contain the nuclear disaster in 25 years after Ukraine’s Chernobyl in 1986, but worse, the crisis is deepening, with radiation emissions rising to dangerous levels.

Importantly, Japan's experience holds lessons for India vis-à-vis the safety of nuclear power plants and our preparedness to deal with accidents. Warns the former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) Chief A Gopalakrishnan, “Nuclear safety in India is compromised. There have been near misses at Narora and the Kaiga dome which collapsed. Luckily they didn't result in a catastrophic incident.”

What worries him are New Delhi’s plans to buy 21 nuclear power reactors which Indian engineers will take time to grasp, leading to a dangerous situation in case of an accident. Shockingly, reactors like France’s European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) comprise unproven technologies. Also negotiations with foreign firms are secret whereby we might end up paying over Rs 20 crore per megawatt.

Laments Gopalakrishnan, “Why not 700 MW power? We can get uranium from abroad. The Government is hell bent on buying French technology because the Prime Minister has given his word to French President Sarkozy."

The Government is pushing ahead with its ambitious nuclear energy plan disregarding the larger safety issues at stake.

India has three reactors, Kalpakkam, Tarapur and Kakrapar, near the seaside which is advantageous as the nuclear plants require large amounts of water for cooling. True, UP’s Narora and Kakrapar reactor-sat have withstood earthquakes in the past. Kalpakkam was unaffected by the 2004 tsunami. But that does not mean there will not be any future risk. The controversy over locating a reactor in Maharashtra’s Jaitapur is continuing as the technology to be used there is untested world-wide.

Also, out of 20 nuclear plants only two use boiling water reactors akin to the Fukushima plant. Seismic activity too is much lower than in Japan. But we need to be prepared for the unexpected. So far India’s nuclear safety record is good and the latest technologies are more efficient and safe. Already a safety review is being carried out.  

True nuclear plants may be eco-friendly but as Japan’s nuclear disaster shows it poses serious dangers thanks to the radio-active waste they produce with catastrophic consequences in the event of a massive safety failure. While hazards posed by nuclear energy’s waste products are similar in some respects to those posed by other toxic industrial processes, radio-active spills have the potential to poison the landscape for centuries. The radiation can be tolerated in very small doses but over long periods it leads to deformities and cancer in several generations, as seen in the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Undoubtedly, the best and safest way to generate electricity is to consider renewable energy like wind and solar which are cheaper than nuclear power and serious accidents are avoided. According to a new study, solar energy is now the better buy. The costs for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have fallen steadily while construction costs for new nuclear power plants have been rising over the past decade. Thus makes electricity generated from new solar installations cheaper than electricity from nuclear power plants.

In fact, electricity generated from solar PV is now being sold by commercial developers to utility companies at 14 paisa or less per kilowatt-hour (kWh), while nuclear plants in the planning stages will be capable of offering electricity cheaper than 14-to-18 paisa per kWh, according to a US Duke University report.

In July 2009, India unveiled a $19 billion plan, to produce 20 GW of solar power by 2020. Under the plan, solar-powered equipment and applications would be mandatory in all Government buildings including hospitals and hotels. Towards that end the Union Government finalised a draft for the National Solar Mission. This aims to make India a global leader in solar energy and envisages an installed solar generation capacity of 20,000 MW by 2020, 1,00,000 MW by 2030 and 2,00,000 MW by 2050.

The total cost for the 30-year period would total of Rs. 85,000 to Rs. 105,000 crore. The requirement during the current Five Year Plan is estimated to be Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 crore. This will rise to Rs. 12,000 - Rs. 15,000 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan. Its implementation will be in three phases.

The first phase of solar deployment (2009-2012) will aim to achieve rapid scaling-up to drive down costs. It will spur domestic manufacturing through the consolidation and expansion of on-going projects for urban, rural and off-grid applications. The target is 100 MW installed capacity here.

The Mission will encourage the use of solar applications to meet daytime peak power requirements which is met through diesel generation. The expansion of solar lighting systems through market initiatives including micro- financing, in the rural and urban sectors, is expected to provide access to lighting for three million households by 2012.

In this phase, the Mission will make it mandatory for all functional buildings such as hospitals, hotels, guest-houses and nursing homes to install solar water heaters. Residential complexes with a minimum plot area of 500 sq m would also be included.

In the second phase, to be implemented between 2012- 2017, the Mission will focus on commercial deployment of solar thermal power plants. This will involve storage options, promotion of solar lighting and heating systems. To be without subsidies it would include micro-financing options.

Finally, the 2017-2020 target is to achieve tariff parity with conventional grid power and an installed capacity of 20 gig watts (GW) by 2020. The installation of one million rooftop systems with an average capacity of 3 kilowatts (kW) by the same year is also envisaged. The proposed strategy should help achieve significant reduction in the cost of solar power and create a robust infrastructure for it.

True, these are lofty aspirations, considering that India’s current grid-connected solar capacity is no more than 15 megawatts. According to the Director at the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, “the targets look challenging but we can go beyond that.” The Government should therefore make all efforts for the generation of renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy, and shun nuclear power for the safety of mankind and the country. ---- INFA

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