The Centre is planning to promote Bharat Small Reactors in a big way. On the anvil are a Nuclear Audit Authority in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency, amendments to the Civil Liability for the Nuclear Damage Act and new government-owned companies for owning technology and fuel fabrication.
The plan also includes a proposal for allowing private investment in the manufacture of heavy water. A ‘nuclear waste management organisation’ (NWMO) is to be set up.
Sources in the Government have told businessline that the Centre is targeting 50 BSRs to be deployed in India and another 50 abroad within 10 years.
Private sector
It may be remembered that the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman, had said in her Budget speech on July 23 that the Government will “partner with the private sector for setting up Bharat Small Reactors”.
It is learnt that an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act, to pave the way for the private sector to own and operate nuclear power plants, is on the cards.
India, which has a fleet of 15 pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR) of 220 MW each, has expertise in operating small modular reactors that the world is keen on today.
RB Grover, Member, Atomic Energy Commission, recently told journalists in Ahmedabad that the PHWR design will be modified for BSRs, before the technology is handed over to the private sector.
New fuel
Sources also said that the BSRs are likely to be designed for a new fuel, ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life), developed by Clean Core Thorium Energy, an American company set up by an Indian (Mehul Shah). The fuel is a mix of thorium, which is found in abundance in India, and HALEU (high assay low enriched uranium). Clean Core has a patent for the fuel, which is currently undergoing validation at the Idaho Laboratories in the US.
Clean Core Thorium counts the renowned Indian nuclear scientist and administrator, Dr Anil Kakodkar, former National Security Adviser, M K Narayanan and former CEO of Cognizant Technologies, Lakshmi Narayanan among its advisors.
businessline reported on January 10 that the ANEEL fuel could help India’s green energy transition. Notably, the fuel leaves far lesser nuclear waste which is also not weapon-grade — so there is no risk of proliferation.