Indian Foreign Affairs News & Discussions (non-US & Pakistan related

[abdulrafi]

what a waste , no mater how much rich india will become, 90% of its population will live/remain in same poverty.

India's Nuclear Technology Can Make it the Richest Nation in the World!​

India possess more than 30% of the world's Thorium reserves estimated at 360,000 tonnes ahead of Australia (300,000), Norway (170,000), USA (160,000), Canada (100,000), South Africa (35,000), Brazil (16,000) and the rest (95,000).

India's Thorium based fast breeder technology is the most advanced in the world and growing at phenomenal pace. India is way ahead of the world in terms of Thorium based FBR know how. India is building a Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) in Kalpakkam that will produce 500MW of energy and will become functional in 2010. India is the only country in the world to attempt such a fate.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) plans to have an installed nuclear generation capacity of 20,000 MWe in the country by the year 2020. This will consist of a mix of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, Fast Breeder Reactors and Advanced Light Water Reactors. By 2050, India plans to produce 30% of its electricity from thorium fuel cycle nuclear generating facilities.

India is unbelievably close to archiving complete energy security for at least 2500 years. Experts believe that the recovery of thorium from Indian beaches would be almost unbelievably high, and the energy extracted could power the Indian economy for thousands of years, potentially making India the richest nation in the world.

I will be posting some more unbiased detailed analysis and news reports on Indian Thorium research and resulting benefits.

 

[holysaturn]

what a waste , no mater how much rich india will become, 90% of its population will live/remain in same poverty.

poor baseless comment

 

[Patriot]

poor baseless comment

Don't feed the trolls!

 

[Screaming Skull]

Nuclear deal moving: Kakodkar​

Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009

KOLKATA: After becoming operational, the India-U.S. nuclear deal is moving satisfactorily, with New Delhi now negotiating with vendors, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Tuesday.

“The deal is moving, we are talking to the vendors and a lot of preparatory work is going on,” he told journalists after delivering the Fourth Raja Ramanna Memorial lecture organised as part of the Foundation Day celebrations of the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre here.

To meet its high energy needs, India must tap every available resource and must have the technology to harness these resources. “It is important that we create an environment where Indian research and development leads to Indian technology,” Dr. Kakodkar said. Nobody could give the country technology for deriving energy from thorium and high-ash coal, with India abounds in, because such technology did not exist elsewhere.

Dr. Kakodkar said India would require 30,000 gigawatts by 2050. To meet this need, the Department of Atomic Energy followed Dr. Homi Bhabha’s vision of a three-stage nuclear power programme: Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors based on uranium in the first phase, followed by Fast Breeder Reactors and ultimately thorium-based reactors. He cautioned against premature introduction of thorium, which, he said, would hamper growth.

Bikash Sinha, Director, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, recounted the achievements of the institution including the Superconducting Cyclotron, which is available only in four other places in the world and from which the first proton beam emitted in May this year. The accelerator has been designed indigenously, with most parts made in India.

West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and M.R. Srinivasan, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, took part in the event.

The Hindu : National : Nuclear deal moving: Kakodkar

 

[Screaming Skull]

India's fast breeder reactor nears second milestone​

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Chennai (IANS): India's first indigenously designed fast breeder reactor, which is expected to start functioning at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu by 2010 and generate 500 MW of electricity, is headed for another milestone.

The breeder reactor - which breeds more material for a nuclear fission reaction than it consumes - is being built by the Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (Bhavini) at the Kalpakkam nuclear enclave, 80 km from here. The prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) will see a major achievement when its main vessel is lowered into the safety vessel. This is expected shortly.

"We are confident of getting the regulatory clearances for lowering the main vessel soon. We will lower the main vessel into the already erected safety vessel," Prabhat Kumar, project director of Bhavini said.

Tasked to build fast breeder reactors in India, Bhavini is awaiting clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). Mr. Kumar said around 46 percent of the PFBR project work is complete and by the end of the year it will be 60 percent.

The sodium cooled fast reactor designed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) has three vessels - a safety vessel, a main vessel and an inner vessel.

Outermost is the stainless steel safety vessel, which was lowered into the reactor vault last June - the first milestone.

The main vessel made of stainless steel measures 13 metres in diameter, 13 metres in height, weighs 200 tonnes and will go inside the safety vessel to hold the coolant liquid sodium, reactor fuel, grid plates and others.

The third and smaller of the three vessels is the inner vessel - 11 metres tall - and supports equipments like pumps, heat exchangers and others.

According to Kumar, a sum of Rs.1,719 crores has been spent on the project and the company may go in for the placement of bonds to raise funds for the Rs.3,400 crore ($717 million) project.

He said: "The PFBR will be funded 76 percent by the central government, four percent by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and the balance through loans. Instead of institutional loans, a decision is expected to be taken for issue of bonds."

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) has accorded its sanction for Rs.250 crore to carry out pre-project activities for setting up two more fast reactors at the Kalpakkam nuclear enclave.

"Now the union cabinet will have to accord its sanction," Mr. Kumar said.

According to him, pre-project activities include site inspection, ground levelling, soil survey, laying of roads, setting up site assembly shops, water channels and others.

"It will take around one-and-a-half years to complete the pre-project activities," he said.

While the reactor uses fission plutonium for power production it breeds more plutonium than what it uses from the natural uranium. The surplus plutonium from each fast reactor can be used to set up more such reactors and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with India's needs.

The Indian fast reactors will be fuelled by a blend of plutonium and uranium oxide. The surplus plutonium from each fast reactor can be used to set up more such reactors and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with India's needs.

The Hindu News Update Service

 

[brahmastra]

1. Marked reduction in oil imports. Saves money from the account

2. 30% of energy in India by 2050 means a huge a domestic business. The domestic nuclear industry could become one of the largest employers in India.

adds money to the account

3. Export of Thorium fuel to other countries. As we have enuf for 2500 years.

adds money to the account

4. Export of reactors to other countries.

adds money to the account

could prove Economical Boon for India.

Sorry guys, can't think anything about but the money. cause m GUJJU.

 

[xebex]

Interesting.. i did not know that.. Nuclear technology is the way to go.. With Water becoming valuable day by day its not a smart idea to stick with Hydroelectricity. Plus Nuclear energy is clean, very efficient as long as its safely maintained. It would be interesting to see how the Government utilizes this energy..

Oops!! nuclear energy is not a piece of cake bro. It better to put this way...Nuclear technology is cleaner compared to fossil fuels. The propper disposal is still unknow. what we are doing now is to dig a deep hole and burry it. thatz it. we are still not capable of processing the deadly nuclear waste properly. Many more inventions and discoveries needs to be done before we can call it a clean fuel.

 

[xebex]

Optimistic as always you Indians.
Be aware though, China might strike in 2017 according to your higher ranked officers, so you might be eating dust before I do.
Just kidding.

who knows, uncle sam is already on your backyard with unmanned toys and laser guided candies. So,way before we eat dust you would be eating candies.
Just Kidding.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Thorium as a green nuclear solution​

June 17 2009,

• Robert Hargraves discusses the advantages of thorium, particularly the liquid fluoride thorium reactor, as a clean and safe nuclear solution that could compete with coal for inexpensive energy generation. Suggests a 10-year plan for bringing this forward.

Last Monday, I interviewed Robert Hargraves about thorium as a more clean, safe, and affordable alternative to uranium-based nuclear reactors. Though there have already been some plants built over the past decades using Thorium, the technology is still under-developed and under-utilized, according to proponents like Hargraves.

Safety

The safety of Thorium over Uranium-based reactors come from several factors. Liquid fluoride thorium reactors eliminate the possibility of a run-away nuclear reaction. The fuel fluid expands as heated, diluting the fissile material in the critical reactivity zone. If there is ever a problem, the reacting fluid can simply be drained out of the reaction chamber into a pan below the chamber, where it will not react. The decay properties or radiation of the waste product are not as bad with Thorium reactors as they are with uranium-based reactors. Also, the by-products and process involved in making the fissile fuel for Thorium reactors is not so readily weapons-grade-capable as the Uranium-based reactor process. While Uranium-based power was a spin-off of nuclear weapon development, Thorium tends to go in the other direction -- moving nuclear power away from simultaneous nuclear weapons support.

History

Hargraves pointed out several Thorium-based nuclear plants already built, including a 300 MW pebble bed reactor that ran for a decade in Germany. The U.S. Air Force had a program back in 1965 that lasted for around four years, in which they were looking at Thorium to power a nuclear air craft that could stay airborne indefinitely. The advent of missiles and satellite technology made that need subside enough to scrap the program.

Advantages

One of the primary advantages of the Liquid Thorium Reactor, according to Hargraves, is that it is scalable. He envisions 100 megawatt power stations being made for the same cost as an airplane, shipped to a site to generate electricity for under 3 cents per kilowatt-hour -- less than coal power in most places.

Another advantage Hargraves points out is that Thorium reactors operate at higher temperatures, making the energy conversion more efficient, so that less energy is thrown away as waste heat. The higher the heat, the more efficiency because you can get higher pressures of the steam which runs the turbines. Lower heat and thus lower pressures means less efficiency, hence more waste per kw-h produced.

The availability of Thorium is another advantage. Hargraves said there is three times as much Thorium available as Uranium -- enough to last hundreds of years. Furthermore, there are stockpiles of it just sitting around from the Manhattan project days when they didn't know what to do with it.

Mini Manhattan Project

Speaking of Manhattan Project, Hargraves says it would take a major initiative approaching that kind of support for Thorium to get it off to a reasonable start. He proposes a "ten year plan" comprised of two five-year plans. In the first five years, the governments of several nations would work together to bring the technology to prototype stage, at a cost of approximately $1 billion dollars. Then, in the second five years, major corporate players like Westinghouse would take the prototype commercial to the point that one Thorium power plant could be made each week.

The sticker price for the development phase of this technology is beyond the budget for even large businesses, so Hargraves recommends that national labs do the development.

As I heard him describe this, I had a hard time getting excited about Thorium as a viable cleaner alternative to the present mainstream energy sources. I'd rather keep my hope out for something like magnet motors, electromagnetic overunity, cold fusion or other exotic energy modalities to pull through, which could be small, portable, baseload capable 24/7, and inexpensive once developed at far less cost and time.

Aim High

The following presentation was mentioned in the interview, which Hargraves gave at Google Tech Talks on May 26, 2009.

VgKfS74hVvQ[/media] - Aim High: Using Thorium Energy to Address Environmental Prob

Thorium as a green nuclear solution

 

[destiny]

Kalpakkam PFBR to be completed ahead of schedule; 4 more to come up by 2020 ​

Wednesday, Sep 07, 2005

The IGCAR designed the PFBR. It would use plutonium-uranium oxide as fuel, and liquid sodium would be the coolant. Four more FBRs, of 500-MWe capacity each, would be built in the country by 2020. Beyond 2020, breeder reactors of 1,000-MWe capacity would come up and they would use metallic fuel.
(This will be an astonishing achievement as no country in the world has attempted even 500MWe-Skull)

No Screaming Scull .. France made a fast breeder reactor of 1200 MWe named Superphenix .. but later dismantled it .
Superphénix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[destiny]

Interesting topic. But Guys, do you know the damage an atomic bomb can make? Indians and Pakistanis, be mature! This is not a toy! I was astonished by one comment, "whether Th (Thorium) has any military application?" I guess he meant A-bomb. Another comment says, China will strike India in 2017. Guys, take a shower in Himalayan glaciers and cool off your heads.

One thing I can say that, any nuclear bomb in South Asia means, complete destruction of every country in that region. China may escape the nuclear fall out (if its bomb destroys India and India doesn't retaliate). Not by nuclear radiation, but by its after effects. You can see glaciers melt (it is already melting), expansion of Thar desert to the size of bigger than the size of Sahara. In Sahara, the human population is one of the lowest and one of the poorest regions. May be you guys will escape, but think about your coming generations- your children, their children....

Coming to the Th Based nuclear reactors- let's talk about the scientific side of this.

Th (for Thorium) is not fissile. So it cannot be used for making A-bombs. And so it is difficult to use as nuclear fuel. However, it is a very good neutron capture and changes to U(233) which is fissile.

There are a lot of advantages for Th based nuclear reactors (NR) than U based NR. Moreover, if I remember correctly, the nuclear wastes will be much easier to clean in Th based (correct me if I am wrong). So nuclear accidents like Chernobyl meltdown can be ruled out!.

For a nuclear reactor to run, the reactor should have some fissionable fuel like U(233, U235, U238). Most of the reactors around the world use U238. U235 is mostly used for bomb making and it is difficult to prepare/separate.

Another important use of Th based NRs (Nuclear Reactors)- the entire cycle of materials DO NOT produce any weapon grade materials.

BUT, there is a problem, big problem. Na (for Sodium) is highly reactive with water. So imagine a situation where the molten Na pass through a tube (non-reactive with Na) and accidentally one drop of water falls in molten Na. BHOOOM!.. which is almost equivalent to a small nuclear explosion, which can result in bigger nuclear explosion. Also, normal Na is reactive to many metals; so forget about the reaction between molten sodium with other metals. So a great care and a lot of scientific research is needed to avoid such situation.

Some countries have been using Sodium as coolant in Fast Breeder reactors for some time. There is a lot of technology required to use molten sodium in reactor - like non-reactive carrier/materials, sensors etc. So India has been running these type of reactors for some time means, they are really masters in this field. As of now, only India has an active Fast Breeder Reactor program. Their experimental reactor has been running for the last 15-20 years successfully!. France was the latest nation to shut down FBR. BTW, 2004 tsunami almost created a nuclear accident at Kalpakam, home of India's FBRs. But they saved!

China is building a 25/60MW experimental FBR. I guess it should be commissioned sometime in 2010. But they need to go a long way! Especially, considering the view that they are immature in Th based NRs. I am not sure whether they have any secretive FBR or Th based NRs. But I guess, there is no need of secrecy in FBRs, unlike nuclear weapons research. Any, positive results will be well appreciated by Nuclear world. Since there were not many significant research articles related to FBR or Th based NRs from China, I guess their research in these fields are in nascent levels. May be I am wrong, but atleast that is what is seen to nuclear research world.

But not many countries have tried liquid Na as coolant in Fast Breeder reactors. France, India and Japan are strong in FBR and use of Na as coolant. Recently France and Japan signed some agreements on future to involve in FBRs using Na as coolant. I think these FBRs are not based on Th based, though.

If India succeeds in Th Based NRs, then they can sell this technology to other nations and it can be rich. But I guess, it will take another 20 years at least. Good Luck India!

No it has been running for the past 30 years successfully. Since the time french left the reactor after pokhran tests in 74 with no cooperation from any other country. India is the most experienced country in operation of fast reactors.And there was no danger to FBTR in tsunami. And yes India has mastered the sodium technology.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Areva Offers India Stakes in African Mines​

Areva SA, the world’s biggest maker of atomic reactors, has offered India stakes in African uranium mines to ensure supplies for fuel-starved plants, the head of the nation’s monopoly nuclear generator said.

State-run Nuclear Power Corp. of India is considering investing in as many as four mines, including projects in South Africa and Nigeria, Chairman Shreyans Kumar Jain said in an interview in Mumbai. Patricia Marie, a spokeswoman for Areva in Paris, confirmed “strategic talks” with partners to develop some mines and declined to comment on specific proposals.

India would gain resources for its atomic expansion after Australia, with the world’s largest known uranium reserves, refused to sell to countries that haven’t signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Areva is building the first large- capacity reactor project in the South Asian nation, which plans a 14-fold increase in nuclear generation by 2030.

“India and China buying stakes in uranium mines will boost production, not prices,” said Max Layton, London-based analyst at Macquarie Bank Ltd. “We predict an annual deficit of as much as 2,000 tons in uranium till 2011-12. We expect it to take until 2013-14 before more mines come into production.”

Nuclear Power is also seeking long-term supply contracts from Kazakhstan, Canada and Brazil as it orders reactors worth at least $14 billion from overseas, Jain said. A three-decade global ban on atomic supplies to India was lifted last year.

“We may invest up to 26 percent of the project cost,” Jain said, declining to give more details about the Areva mines or how much the company would spend on the proposed acquisitions.

Insufficient Reserves

Buying shares in Areva’s mines will help boost supplies for locally built atomic plants as domestic reserves of uranium are insufficient for India’s requirements, Jain said yesterday. Nuclear Power may spend more than a planned $1.2 billion to buy equity in overseas uranium mines, including those in Russia and Kazakhstan, he said.

Areva, which is building the first large-capacity atomic project in India with overseas equipment, will also supply uranium to run the reactors for 60 years, Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said in February after signing a preliminary sales agreement.

Nuclear Power will buy two Areva reactors of 1,650-megawatt capacity each and may increase the number to six, according to the preliminary agreement.

The project will be built at Jaitapur in the western state of Maharashtra and Nuclear Power may complete acquiring almost 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) of land for it in the “next few months,” Jain said.

Awaiting Approvals

The two companies are waiting for France’s parliament to approve an inter-governmental agreement before raising 3 billion euros ($4.25 billion) for the project, he said.

A final accord may be signed next year after obtaining French parliamentary and regulatory approvals, Jain said.

Nuclear Power’s agreements to buy reactors from U.S.-based GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Russia’s Rosatom Corp. also include assured uranium supplies, Jain said.

The Indian company may need 750 metric tons of the fuel each year after signing agreements to add 25,000 megawatts of capacity, Jain said in an interview in March.

Nuclear Power is bidding for stakes in uranium mines in Russia and Kazakhstan, including the untapped Elkon deposit in Russia’s Far East, Jain had said in a May 26 interview in Moscow.

India’s current nuclear power generation capacity of 4,120 megawatts accounts for 3 percent of the total, according to the power ministry’s Web site. India may produce 60,000 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2030, Shyam Saran, special envoy to the prime minister, said Jan. 8.

-- With assistance from Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Paris. Editors: John Chacko, Ang Bee Lin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Archana Chaudhary in Mumbai at achaudhary2@bloomberg.net.

Areva Offers India Stakes in African Mines, Jain Says (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

 

[Screaming Skull]

India Need Not Import LWR After 2050: AEC Chairman​

• Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman, Anil Kakodkar, has affirmed that India will able to use fast breeder technology and be ready to use thorium technology by 2050. Chairman further stated that, India will not have to import light water reactors (LWRs) after 2050.

Indian nuclear community should not have any confusion regarding this as there are discussions going around about using Thorium even before the fast breeder technology is developed, Kakodkar said.

Although India has huge amount of Thorium and will be a main concern for long time in the future, India has to follow the better thought out plan of three-stage programme of Homi J Bhabha as Thorium does not provide fast growth.

India requires fast growth and this can be sustained by fast breeder reactors (FBR), with a multiplier effect.

"If you deploy thorium out of turn (before stage II maturity), which does not support growth out of turn, then you will not get large generating capacity," Kakodkar said.

"Developing Nuclear Technology for our energy independence: the grand challenge."

Kakodkar said that if India needs to produce huge quantity of electricity in future, the sequence should be correct, Stage I - pressurised heavy water reactor using natural uranium, Stage II-fast breeder using uranium-plutonium and stage III-using thorium (converted into fissile material Uranium- 233,)

India Need Not Import LWR After 2050: AEC Chairman - Energy Business Review : News

 

[Screaming Skull]

Top Japanese physicist wants Indian participation in Japanese projects​

Mumbai (PTI): Japanese scientists are looking forward to greater participation by Indian scientists at their mega projects of the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics (KEK), a top Japanese particle physicist said.

KEK, one of the two largest particle physics laboratories around the globe, is planning for a highest luminosity machine (accelerator) to explore matter and anti-matter of the universe and their decay properties soon after the Big Bang.

The new project is called KEKB.

"We want more Indian scientists' participation in this multi-million project as well as another new project on Electron-Proton Accelerator which is at a design stage," KEK director general Prof. A Suzuki told PTI.

Both these are international collaborative projects and it is important that scientists from across India should participate, he said.

Prof. Suzuki and Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director general, European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, were here last week to attend the two-day 'Bhabha summit' at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, which is celebrating its founder Homi J. Bhabha's birth centenary.

Prof. Suzuki noted that in the field of particle physics there are two complementary approaches to unravel the mystery and beauty of the universe.

The first one is to go for high luminosity enhancing the chance of detecting the signature of massive, yet-to-be discovered particles that can appear for a short time in the quantum-mechanical loops. This is the KEK model accelerator.

The second way is to raise the energy of interaction and by doing so to increase the possibility of observing new particles that are directly accessible, Prof. Suzuki said.

Meanwhile, Prof. Heuer said attending the Bhabha summit gave him a lot of insights of the great physicist of India, who spear-headed India's nuclear programme and was equally involved in the fundamental research on cosmic rays and high energy physics.

Asked when would the much awaited Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator built by CERN which was shut down nine days after it was switched on in September last, become operational once again, he said, "It will restart at the end of September or October and made available to scientists around the world."

The CERN director general said that the $10 billion Geneva-based accelerator which was switched off after it suffered an electrical failure resulting in compete shut down.

Last November, CERN revealed that the repairs were expected to have a price tag of $21 million in order to get the collider up and running again.

"Although the repair will cost us a lot, this accident has helped us develop new instruments that could detect before hand the occurrence of any untoward," Prof. Heur said.

This accelerator is very important for the scientists to explore the universe, 95 per cent of which is yet unknown to mankind, he said.

Once the LHC is repaired and becomes operational, two exciting things will be experienced — the science of fundamental particles of universe and technology for prevention of such accidents in the accelerators.

The LHC is over 27 km in circumference and lies underneath the Franco-Swiss border in Geneva, Switzerland. It was both funded and built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries laboratories and universities.

By sending beams of protons around the 17-mile ring of the LHC and crashing them into one another, the scientists hope to recreate the immediate after effects of a proposed Big Bang.

The results of this experiment, they believe, will provide the secrets of the origin of the universe.

The Hindu News Update Service

 

[ironman]

Indo-US trade can reach $320 bn in 10 years: CII​

New Delhi (PTI): Industry body CII on Sunday said that the bilateral trade between India and the US can touch 320 billion dollars in next 10 years due to the recently concluded civil nuclear deal.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma unveiled the report titled 'India-US Economic Relations: The Next Decade' at a session in New York city which talked about the measures to expand trade between the two countries.

"...the report asserts that given the right conditions, merchandise trade could rise to $320 billion by 2018, an eight-time increase from $42 billion in 2007-08," the chamber said.

The report also called for bilateral Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement to cover goods and services and expediting the Bilateral Investment Treaty and opening up of sectors like retail and higher education in India for FDI.

Stating that the historic civilian nuclear agreement, concluded between the two countries earlier this year, marks the beginning of a new era in the bilateral relationship, the report called strong commercial ties between the two nations.

"A new vision for platform-jump in economic engagement between India and US would include shift from high-technology trade to frontier technology, trade in goods and services, and investments as well as collaboration on clean energy and climate change (among others)," it said.