- Nuclear Energy, Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, Energy Planning, Integrated Renewable Energy System, Mitigation and Adaptation, Energy and Environment, Pathways to decarbonisation, and 5 moreEnergy Production & Consumption, Environmental Risk Assesment, Indian studies, Security Studies, and Energy Economicsedit
Nuclear power has been held out as possibly the most important source of energy for India. And the dream of a nuclear powered India has been supported by huge financial budgets and high level political commitment for over six decades.... more
Nuclear power has been held out as possibly the most important source of energy for India. And the dream of a nuclear powered India has been supported by huge financial budgets and high level political commitment for over six decades. Nuclear power has also been held out as safe, environmentally benign and cheap. Physicist and writer, M.V. Ramana shows that nuclear power has been more expensive than conventional forms of electricity generation, that the ever-present risk of catastrophic accidents is heightened by observed organizational inadequacies at nuclear facilities, and that existing nuclear fuel cycle facilities have been correlated with impacts on public health and the environment. He offers detailed information and analysis that should serve to deepen the debate on whether India should indeed embark on a massive nuclear programme.
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This article contributes a case study of regulation of the design of India’s Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). This reactor is the first of its kind in India, and perceived by the nuclear establishment as critical to its future... more
This article contributes a case study of regulation of the design of India’s Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). This reactor is the first of its kind in India, and perceived by the nuclear establishment as critical to its future ambitions. Because fast breeder reactors can experience explosive accidents called core disruptive accidents whose maximum severity is difficult to contain, it is difficult to assure the safety of the reactor’s design. Despite the regulatory agency’s apparent misgivings about the adequacy of the PFBR’s design, it eventually came to approve construction of the reactor. We argue that the approval process should be considered a case of regulatory failure, and examine three potential factors that contributed to this failure: institutional negligence, regulatory capture, and dependence on developers and proponents for esoteric knowledge. This case holds lessons for nuclear safety regulation and more generally in situations where specialized, highly technical, knowledge essential for ensuring safety is narrowly held.
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This article explores the safety capabilities of the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor that is under construction in India, and which is to be the first of several similar reactors that are proposed to be built over the next few... more
This article explores the safety capabilities of the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor that is under construction in India, and which is to be the first of several similar reactors that are proposed to be built over the next few decades, to withstand severe accidents. Such accidents could potentially breach the reactor containment and disperse radioactivity to the environment. The potential for such accidents results from the reactor core not being in its most reactive configuration; further, when there is a loss of the coolant, the reactivity increases rather then decreasing as in the case of water-cooled reactors. The analysis demonstrates that the official safety assessments are based on assumptions about the course of accidents that are not justifiable empirically and the safety features incorporated in the current design are not adequate to deal with the range of accidents that are possible.
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This paper examines lessons from the operating experience in India’s nuclear facilities about factors influencing the risk of potential accidents. Different perspectives on safety in hazardous facilities have identified organizational... more
This paper examines lessons from the operating experience in India’s nuclear facilities about factors influencing the risk of potential accidents. Different perspectives on safety in hazardous facilities have identified organizational factors coincident with reliable and accident-free operations; these include functional redundancy and compensation for failures, the importance of organizational leaders in setting and maintaining safety standards, healthy relationships between management and workers, and sophisticated learning from failures. Using publicly available information about incidents and failures, we find that these conditions are frequently violated.
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Safe operation of nuclear power facilities requires a culture of learning, but Indian nuclear authorities appear to continuously fail to learn the lessons of accidents including at facilities they operate. This paper examines how nuclear... more
Safe operation of nuclear power facilities requires a culture of learning, but Indian nuclear authorities appear to continuously fail to learn the lessons of accidents including at facilities they operate. This paper examines how nuclear authorities in India responded to the Fukushima accidents and a previous accident at one of India’s nuclear power plants, and infers what they seem to have learned from them. By evaluating this experience in light of a wide body of research on factors promoting reliability and safety in organizations managing complex and hazardous systems, it seeks to draw lessons about the prospects for nuclear safety in India.
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The November 2009 exposure of employees at the Kaiga nuclear power plant to tritiated water is not the first instance of high radiation exposures to workers. Over the years, many nuclear reactors and other facilities associated with the... more
The November 2009 exposure of employees at the Kaiga nuclear power plant to tritiated water is not the first instance of high radiation exposures to workers. Over the years, many nuclear reactors and other facilities associated with the nuclear fuel cycle operated by the Department of Atomic Energy have had accidents of varying severity. Many of these are a result of repeated inattention to good safety practices, often due to lapses by management. Therefore, the fact that catastrophic radioactive releases have not occurred is not by itself a source of comfort. To understand whether the DAE's facilities are safe, it is therefore necessary to take a closer look at their operations. The description and discussion in this paper of some accidents and organisational practices offer a glimpse of the lack of priority given to nuclear safety by the DAE. The evidence presented here suggests that the organisation does not yet have the capacity to safely manage India’s nuclear facilities.
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Small modular reactors (SMRs) have been proposed as a possible way to address the social problem confronting nuclear power, including poor economics, the possibility of catastrophic accidents, radioactive waste production, and linkage to... more
Small modular reactors (SMRs) have been proposed as a possible way to address the social problem confronting nuclear power, including poor economics, the possibility of catastrophic accidents, radioactive
waste production, and linkage to nuclear weapon proliferation. Several SMR designs, with diverse technical characteristics, are being developed around the world and are promoted as addressing one or
more of these problems. This paper examines the basic features of different kinds of SMRs and shows why the technical characteristics of SMRs do not allow them to solve simultaneously all four of the problems
identified with nuclear power today. It shows that the leading SMR designs under development involve choices and trade-offs between desired features. Focusing on a single challenge, for example cost reduction, might make other challenges more acute. The paper then briefly discusses other cultural and political factors that contribute to the widespread enthusiasm for these reactors, despite technical and historical reasons to doubt that the promises offered by SMR technology advocates will be actually realized.
waste production, and linkage to nuclear weapon proliferation. Several SMR designs, with diverse technical characteristics, are being developed around the world and are promoted as addressing one or
more of these problems. This paper examines the basic features of different kinds of SMRs and shows why the technical characteristics of SMRs do not allow them to solve simultaneously all four of the problems
identified with nuclear power today. It shows that the leading SMR designs under development involve choices and trade-offs between desired features. Focusing on a single challenge, for example cost reduction, might make other challenges more acute. The paper then briefly discusses other cultural and political factors that contribute to the widespread enthusiasm for these reactors, despite technical and historical reasons to doubt that the promises offered by SMR technology advocates will be actually realized.
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The Indian government has announced that it plans to purchase six European Pressurised Reactors for Jaitapur from the French company, Areva. No EPR is in commercial operation anywhere else in the world. Estimates of costs from plants... more
The Indian government has announced that it plans to purchase six European Pressurised Reactors for Jaitapur from the French company, Areva. No EPR is in commercial operation anywhere else in the world. Estimates of costs from plants under construction in Finland and France suggest that each unit may cost as much as Rs 60,000 crore; at this price, six units will cost Rs 3.6 lakh crore. The paper shows that the expected starting tariff for electricity from these reactors, without including transmission and distribution costs, is likely to be around Rs 15 per unit (kWh). The existing revenue model used by the government already involves a large loss for the taxpayer. The government may seek to make the tariff from Jaitapur competitive by increasing the scope and nature of these handouts.
Canada has a lengthy history of trying to find a path for dealing with radioactive spent fuel and nuclear waste from its nuclear reactors. In the last decade, it has taken major strides towards this goal by evolving a process through... more
Canada has a lengthy history of trying to find a path for dealing with radioactive spent fuel and nuclear waste from its nuclear reactors. In the last decade, it has taken major strides towards this goal by evolving a process through which a site for a geological repository to sequester nuclear waste is to be selected. The Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is in the early stages of the process of finding a community that is willing to host such a repository. Differences between the broad principles underlying siting and the processes for actually selecting the site have emerged as the NWMO proceeds with engaging local governments and specific communities. These differences and other conflicts, especially over new nuclear reactor construction, might pose hurdles in the path of successfully setting up a repository.
China has ambitious plans to expand its nuclear power capacity. One of the policy goals that high-level policymakers have desired is to base the nuclear program on a standardized reactor design. However, this has not materialized so far.... more
China has ambitious plans to expand its nuclear power capacity. One of the policy goals that high-level policymakers have desired is to base the nuclear program on a standardized reactor design. However, this has not materialized so far. By examining its nuclear reactor choices for individual projects, we argue that China’s policymaking process has been greatly influenced by international competition and domestic politics. Multiple international nuclear vendors are intent upon maintaining their respective niches in the expanding Chinese reactor market, and they have used various forms of economic and political pressure to achieve their objectives. On the other hand, China’s policymaking process is fragmented and the shifting power balances among powerful domestic actors do not allow a fixed path to be followed. Further, because of the high costs and potential profits involved, nuclear reactor choices in China have been driven not just by technical considerations but also by foreign and trade policy objectives. All of these make it unlikely that China will standardize the reactor type it constructs in the near future.► China’s nuclear power policymaking has been fragmented and without central control. ► Multiple domestic actors have pursued independent agendas. ► International nuclear vendors have intensely competed for Chinese reactor contracts. ► Economic, political and foreign policy goals have driven reactor contract decisions. ► China is unlikely to construct only a standardized reactor design.
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Aspects of the dynamics of walking technicolor models are expected to have important consequences for technihadron production at hadron colliders. Hard-mass enhancements characteristic of walking technicolor raise technipion (π T ) masses... more
Aspects of the dynamics of walking technicolor models are expected to have important consequences for technihadron production at hadron colliders. Hard-mass enhancements characteristic of walking technicolor raise technipion (π T ) masses relative to technirho (ρ T ) masses so that the ...
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... 5 Vipin Gupta and Frank Pabian, Investigating the Allegations of Indian Nuclear Test Preparations in the Rajasthan Desert: A CTBT Verification ... 18 19, and IS Bhat, MAR Iyengar, RP Gurg, S. Krishnamony, and KC Pillai,... more
... 5 Vipin Gupta and Frank Pabian, Investigating the Allegations of Indian Nuclear Test Preparations in the Rajasthan Desert: A CTBT Verification ... 18 19, and IS Bhat, MAR Iyengar, RP Gurg, S. Krishnamony, and KC Pillai, Environmental impact of PHWR type power stations ...
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The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor that is being built in Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu has the potential to undergo severe accidents that involve the disassembly of the reactor core. Such accidents could release sufficient energy to fracture... more
The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor that is being built in Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu has the potential to undergo severe accidents that involve the disassembly of the reactor core. Such accidents could release sufficient energy to fracture the protective barriers around the core, including the containment building, and release large fractions of the radioactive material in the reactor into the surroundings. The designers of the PFBR have made choices aimed at making the reactor cheaper rather than safer. The safety assessment of the PFBR points to some fundamental problems with how nuclear technology is regulated.