New Delhi, Sept. 26 India has marked its entry into the nuclear export market, with a new reactor model christened AHWR300-LEU. The prototype, which was designed and developed recently, uses low enriched uranium along with thorium as fuel and is a new version of the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AWHR).
According to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), the reactor has a significantly lower requirement of mined uranium per unit energy produced compared to most of the current generation thermal reactors and is being marketed for countries with small grids. India formally unveiled the prototype at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 53rd General Conference in Vienna earlier this month.
“This version of the design can meet the requirement of medium sized reactors, in countries with small grids while meeting the needs of next generation systems. ‘AHWR300-LEU’ possesses several features, which are likely to reduce its capital and operating costs and make it ideally suited for leveraging the industrial capabilities available in several developing countries,” a DAE official said.
One of the selling points being buttressed by the Indian side is the inherent “proliferation-resistant” features of the reactor’s fuel cycle. “The reactor provides a better utilisation of natural uranium… The composition of the fresh as well as the spent fuel of ‘AHWR300-LEU’ makes the fuel cycle inherently proliferation resistant,” the official said.
Indigenous reactors, services
India has been proactively exploring the possibility of exporting indigenous reactor designs to developing nations that are eyeing nuclear power generation but are constrained by small-size electricity grids.
With the opening up of international civil nuclear co-operation, which has technically cleared the decks for India to enter the global nuclear trade, the potential for export of indigenous reactors and services is being viewed as a viable commercial proposition, an official said.
Globally, the major developers of nuclear reactors in the EU and North America have moved on to larger reactor sizes of 700 MWe or 1,000 MWe and above. India stands out in having an active nuclear power programme using the small-sized 220 MWe reactors, which is based on proven technology in a number of domestic atomic stations.
Officials said small size nuclear reactors are apt for countries that have small grids of around 10,000 MW. Use of large reactor units in countries having small grids could potentially lead to grid failures, if even a single large unit shuts down at any point in time.
India has held preliminary discussions on the possibility of setting up a nuclear power reactor in Kazakhstan based on Indian reactor design.
Several Asean countries are reported to be eyeing the nuclear option, with Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand, among those having announced plans to tap atomic energy in the future.
Source : Business Standard