Number of nuclear power plants in India

Nuclear energy is an essential part of the country’s energy mix and is being pursued optimally. Clean, environmentally-friendly baseload electricity is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The country’s long-term energy security may also be ensured sustainably via its enormous potential.

KAPP-3 (700 MW) was linked to the network on January 10, 2021, and there are now 22 reactors in operation with a total capacity of 6780 MW. An additional 8 reactors (including BHAVINI’s 500 MW PFBR) totalling 6000 megawatts are now under development.

For the development of 8 stations power reactors, including 10 indigenous 700 MW High-pressure Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) and 2 LWRs built in conjunction with the Russian Federation, the government has given administrative and financial support. The nuclear power plant’s capacity will rise to 22480 MW by 2031 after the projects currently under construction and sanctioned are completed. Additionally, the government has given the go-ahead for five additional nuclear power plant locations.

Chennai, Tamil Nadu’s Kudankulam nuclear power station

Tamil Nadu, in southern India, is home to the Kudankulam NPP. India’s largest nuclear facility has a total installed capacity of 2,000 MW and an additional 2,000 MW under development.

Sole Kudankulam utilises pressurised water reactors (PWR) rather than boiling water reactors (BHWR) or pressurised heavy water reactors as India’s only nuclear power facility (PHWR). Atomstroyexport provided the PWRs, which were based on Russian technology. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, demonstrations by The People’s Movement against Kudankulam NPP stopped construction on the reactor in October 2011. In May 2013, the Indian Supreme Court rejected a public complaint filed by the protestors against the facility.

Maharashtra’s Tarapur nuclear reactor 

With commercial operations beginning in 1969 at the Tarapur Nuclear Reactor in Maharashtra, Western India, India’s oldest nuclear reactor is the country’s westernmost site. A total of 1,400MW from 8 stations was generated by 2 BHWR reactors and 2 PHWR reactors, making it the second-largest reactor in India. Initial installation began in 1969, with the 2 BWR reactors included, followed by the 2 PHWR reactors in 2005 and 2006.

Rajasthan atomic power plant 

The overall installed capacity of the Rajasthan Power Plant in Rajasthan, in northwestern India, is 1180MW. The first of the plant’s 6 PHWR reactors (2 more still under construction) was turned on in December 1973.

In June 2012, demonstrators from the now-dominant Indian People’s Party (BJP) targeted the facility. There was a mass arrest of demonstrators when the party called for a bandh (a protest comparable to a strike) and organised a march against the factory.

India’s Kaiga atomic power plant 

There are 4 220MW PHWR reactors at the Kaiga Atomic Power Plant in Karnataka, India. The reactors went online in December 1999, October 2000, April 2007 and January 2011.

In December of last year, Kaiga’s Unit 1 achieved a new record for the most extended period of continuous operation globally. Heysham 2 in the United Kingdom had previously held the record for the longest uninterrupted run of 962 days from May 13, 2016, to December 31, 2018.

Kalpakkam nuclear power plant, Tamil Nadu

At the Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, 2 235-megawatt reactors have been in operation since 1984, with plans to build 2 additional 500-megawatt and 6 600-megawatt reactors in the future.

Kalapakkam has a prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) that does not create highly radioactive nuclear waste and can generate 70 per cent more electricity. The reactor was able to withstand the Vardah storm, which had gusts of up to 90 mph, in December 2016.

Uttar Pradesh’s Narora nuclear reactor 

Nuclear reactor Narora in Uttar Pradesh has 440 megawatts of power from 2 pressurised heavy water reactors or NPCIL. It was decided to erect units 1 and 2 back-to-back in 1991 and 1992. 

Although a major fire broke out in unit 1 in May 1993 and unit 2 was shut down for a month in September 1999 due to an air-locking inner door malfunction, the Narora nuclear power plant is considered one of the safest in the country and won the Golden Peacock award for environmental management in the year 2000.

Gujarat’s Kakrapar atomic power station

The Kakrapar nuclear power plant’s PHWR reactors have 440 megawatts (MW) installed capacity. Construction of the 2 reactors was finished in May 1993 and in September 1995. In 1998, a leak in the plant’s water systems forced a 66-day shutdown, but the facility bounced back to win the CANDU owners group’s award for best PHWR in its class in January 2003. When the plant’s coolant channels and feeder tubes in the core of its reactor were rebuilt in September 2018, it had a successful ‘heart transplant’.

Politics of energy

Growing energy demands in India will be challenging because India relies on imported fuels and the sporadic nature of energy sector reform. By 2040, India’s energy consumption by 8 stations is expected to have increased by 156%, according to the 2019 edition of BP’s Energy Outlook. With fossil fuels accounting for 79 per cent of demand in 2040, down from 92 per cent in 2017, the country’s energy balance is expected to alter during the next 30 years. Primary fossil fuel use is anticipated to rise by 120 per cent between 2017 and 2040. Even though India was on track to connect every home to electricity by early 2019, there is an urgent need for a more dependable power supply.

According to the Power System Operation Corporation, peak demand in July 2021 was 201 GWe. The government’s 12th five-year plan, covering 2012-17, aimed to spend $247 billion to create 94 GWe of new capacity. The goal was to have a total installed capacity of 700 GWe by 2032, with 63 GWe coming from nuclear, to satisfy a GDP growth rate of 7-9 per cent.

The International Energy Agency estimates that India will require $1.6 trillion in investment in electricity production, transmission, and distribution through 2035 for 8 stations. According to a government report released in March of that year, nuclear capacity is expected to fall short of the 63 GWe objective by 2031c. The nuclear energy minister of the nation reiterated this new goal in December 2021. Northern, Eastern, Northeastern, Southern and Western are the five electrical networks in India. One exception is the Southern grid, which is not linked to the others.

Moreover, 95,000 circuit kilometres of transmission lines are operated by the state-owned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCI). Over 600 million people were left without electricity for up to a day in 22 states after a power outage on the Northern system in July 2012 and two other networks in the early morning hours. More than $6 billion a year was lost in the transmission and distribution or NPCIL sector, according to a KPMG analysis in 2007. The losses were estimated at $12.6 billion per year in 2012 research. A national average of 27 per cent T&D loss is significantly over the aim of 15 per cent established in 2001, when the average number was 34 per cent, according to a 2010 assessment. The theft was blamed for a large portion of it. There was only around 13% of the generating capacity installed. It’s estimated that India’s transmission system has had capacity and efficiency improvements totalling roughly $10 billion since 2010. As of 2009, the National Load Dispatch Center started managing regional load dispatch centres, scheduling and dispatching power, and monitoring the national grid operations.

Conclusion

The country’s 5 regional grids were integrated for increased efficiency and synchronisation by 2013. India’s high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines from 8 stations have quadrupled in length and capacity since 2002 and suffer lower losses over long distances than AC lines. Economic development and poverty reduction are two of India’s top priorities. However, because reducing CO2 emissions isn’t a top priority due to the country’s reliance on coal, no objectives have been established for 2015 ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. In September 2014, India’s environment minister said that it would be 30 years before CO2 emissions declined.