ANUSHAKTI
:
Atomic
Energy In India
- A
Preface to its Future Perspectives
Atomic
Energy has got a definite and decisive role to
perform in the Indian Power Generation and
supply sector. Being a developing country, a
major share of India's overall electricity
requirements has to be from non conventional
sources as the conventional sources has got
limitations to meet the galloping needs. India
has achieved self-sufficiency in the Nuclear
Science and Technology thanks to the
pioneering efforts initiated by Dr. Homi
Bhabha who visualized the Indian Nuclear
Program and since then meticulously carried on
by the dedicated scientists and engineers of
DAE family.
An
adequate and uninterrupted power generation is
an intrinsic essentiality for the overall
development of any nation. In quantitative
terms, the per capita consumption of electric
energy is regarded as an indicative parameter
of the socio economic growth rate of a nation.
|
ATOMIC
ENERGY IN INDIA |
| A
Preface to its Future Perspectives |
| Strategy
for Nuclear Energy |
| Evolution
of PHWR Design |
| Fast
Breeder Reactors |
| Heavy
Water |
| Nuclear
Fuels and structural Components |
| Back
End of Nuclear Fuel Cycle |
| Research
& Development |
| Conclusion |
The
major contribution to India’s power production
programme comes from
-
Coal
based thermal power stations (58,000 MW in 2002, ~
67% of total power output)
-
Hydroelectric
power generation
-
Non
- conventional sources (Nuclear, wind, tidal etc.)
Per
capita power consumption in India is around 400 Kwh/yr,
which is much below the world average consumption of
2400 Kwh/yr.
Thus,
massive increase in the power generation to match the
world average consumption is needed in the coming years
to enhance the overall national growth rate.
The
estimated coal deposits in India is ~ 206 billion tonnes
(~6% of the world coal reserves) and the distribution of
conventional energy sources in India is
Coal
– 68%, Lignite – 5.6%, Petroleum – 20 %, Natural
gases –5.6%
This
is far from adequate to meet the increasing future
energy demands. More over
Our
conventional resources are far from being adequate to
achieve any ambitious target in terms power
generation. With the depleting coal deposits and the
limited potential of hydel power, the nations future
requirements of power could be met by tapping nuclear
and other non - conventional resources. There is a lot
of potential in non-conventional sources and this must
be harnessed.
By their very nature, while
other non-conventional
sources are suitable for
small-decentralized applications, nuclear
power stations are
suitable for large central generating stations |
