Nuclear Power in India - Part II

Nuclear power plants in India:
Currently, twenty-one nuclear power reactors have a total install capacity of 5,780 MW (3.5% of total installed base)

Power Station	Operator	State	Type	Units	Total Capacity(MW)
Kaiga	NPCIL	Karnataka	PHWR	220 x 4	880 MW
Kakrapar	NPCIL	Gujarat	PHWR	220 x 2	880 MW
Klpakkam	NPCIL	Tamilnadu	PHWR	220 x 2	880 MW
Narora	NPCIL	Uttar Pradesh	PHWR	220 x 2	880 MW
Rawatbhata	NPCIL	Rajasthan	PHWR	100 x 1 200 x 2 220 x 2	1180 MW
Tarapur	NPCIL	Maharashtra	BWR	160 x 2 540 x 2	1400 MW
Kudankulam	NPCIL	Tamilnadu	VVER	1000 x 1	1000 MW
			Total	21	5780 MW

The projects under construction are:

Power Station	Operator	State	Type	Units	Total Capacity(MW)
Kalpakkam	Bhavini	Tamilnadu	PFBR	500 x 1	500 MW
Kakrapar Unit 3 and 4	NPCIL	Gujarat	PHWR	700 x 2	1400 MW
Rawatbhata Unit 7 and 8	NPCIL	Rajasthan	PHWR	700 x 2	1400 MW
Kudankulam Unit 2	NPCIL	Tamilnadu	VVER	1000 x 1	1000 MW
			Total	6 Units	4300 MW

The planned projects are:

Power Station	Operator	State	Type	Units	Total Capacity(MW)
Gorakhpur	NPCIL	Haryana	PHWR	700 x 4	2800 MW
Chutka	NPCIL	MadhyaPradesh	PHWR	700 x 2	1400 MW
Mahi Banswara	NPCIL	Rajasthan	PHWR	700 x 2	1400 MW
Kaiga	NPCIL	Karnataka	PHWR	700 x 2	1400 MW
Kalpakkam	NPCIL	Tamilnadu	FBR	500 x 2	1000 MW
Kudankulam	-----	Tamilnadu	VVER	1000 x 2	2000 MW
Jaitapur	-----	Maharashtra	EPR	1650 x 6	9900 MW
Kovvada	-----	Andhra Pradesh	ESBWR	1594 x 6	9564 MW
Mithi Virdi	-----	Gujarat	AP 1000	1100 x 6	6600 MW
			Total	43 Units	36364 MW

Anti-nuclear protests: Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, populations around proposed Indian NPP sites launched protests that had found resonance around the country. There have been mass protests against the French-backed 9900 MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Maharashtra and the 2000 MW Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamilnadu. The Goverment of Wst Bengal refused to a proposed 6000 MW facility near the town of Haripur that intended to host 6 Russian reactors.

Nuclear Power in India - Part I

Nuclear power is the fourth largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydro-electricity and renewable sources of electricity.
India's first research nuclear reactor and its first nuclear power plant were built with assistance from Canada. The 40 MW research reactor agreement was signed in 1956, and CIRUS achieved first critically in 1960. This reactor was supplied to India on the assurance that it would not be used for military purposes, but without effective safeguards against such use. The agreement for India's first nuclear power plant at Rajasthan, RAPP-1 was signed in 1963, followed by RAPP-2, in 1966. These reactors contains rigid safeguards to ensure they would not be used for a military programme.

History: India's first research nuclear reactor and its first nuclear power plant were built with assistance from Canada. The 40 MW research reactor agreement was signed in 1956, and CIRUS achieved first critically in 1960.
India has been making advances in the field of thorium-based fuels, working to design and develop a prototype for an atomic reactor using thorium and low-enriched uranium, a key part of India's three stage nuclear power programme. the country has also recently re-initiated its involvement in the LENR research activities, in addition to supporting work done in the fusion power area through the ITER initiative.

The United States and Canada terminated their assistance after the detonation of India's nuclear explosion in 1974. India's domestic uranium reserves are small and the country is dependent on uranium imports to fuel its nuclear power industry. Since early 1990s, Russia has a major supplier of nuclear fuel to India.
India has signed bilateral deals on civilian nuclear technology cooperation with several other countries, including France, the United States, the Unites Kingdom, Canada and South Korea. India has also uranium supply agreements with Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentina and Namibia. An Indian private company won a uranium exploration contract in Niger.

South Korea became the latest country to sign a nuclear agreement with India after it got the wavier from the Nuclear Supplier's Group (NSG) in 2008. On July 2011 India and South Korea signed a nuclear agreement, which will allow South Korea with a legal foundation to participate in India's nuclear expansion programme, and to dis for constructing nuclear power plants in India.

Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, stated while he was in office, that "energy independence in India's first and highest priority. India has go for nuclear power generation in a big way using thorium-based reactors. Thorium, a non-fissile material is available in abundance in our country." India has vast thorium and quite limited uranium reserves.