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WITH THE NUCLEAR power on a revival path world over, and the technology-related issues sorted out in India, the country's nuclear power programme is all set to take off. From the current installed capacity of 2,720 MWe, the ambition was to scale up to 20,000 MWe by 2020. But now those associated with the nuclear power programme are talking in terms of an installed capacity of 40,000 MWe over a period., For this different site selection procedures need to be adopted so as to build reactors of varying capacities at coastal and inland locations. Construction of six nuclear power plants is underway at three sites in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, which will take the total installed capacity to 6,680 MWe. It is to quickly push up the capacity and to make it economical that the site selection committee for greenfield plants has recommended a cluster approach in coastal and inland locations. The proposal is to have 1,000 MW reactors in coastal sites and 700 MW reactors inland. Such a proposal has been thought of because the existing sites can accommodate a total capacity of only 14,000 MWe. The target is to increase the percentage of nuclear power to the total power generated from three to five.

Despite repeated reservations being raised over the desirability of having nuclear power plants, if those associated with the programme are talking of giving it a push, it is mainly because the teething problems of using indigenous technology have been sorted out. Besides, India is among the few countries to achieve self-reliance in the manufacture of nuclear power plant equipment. Moreover, the efficiency levels at the existing nuclear power plants have been going up over the years and their plant load factors are now reported to be close to the design levels, which means that costs are also closer to the normative levels. More efforts are needed to bring down the gestation periods, which will help further push down the cost of nuclear power. For long, those involved in the nuclear programme have been insisting that this is a genuine economical option for power generation and supply, especially if the country is to depend less on fossil fuels. It is also the least polluting option, though its detractors bring up the issue of waste disposal.

Nuclear power becomes an especially attractive option at locations that are far removed from coal reserves and where hydel sources are also not available. The power planners need to work out an optimal mix of thermal, hydro, nuclear, renewable and non-conventional energy sources. This would typically depend upon the availability of fossil fuels and the largely-untapped hydro potential. By some accounts, indigenous thorium deposits can sustain about 300,000 MWe of electricity generation capacity for about 300 years. Along side giving a thrust to the idea of nuclear power, it is also essential for those involved to lift the shroud of secrecy that still covers any discussion on this topic if the nuclear programme to gain wider acceptance.

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