Shutdown this misguided energy policy

News: On March 3, a fire broke out near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine during the course of a military battle that could have triggered a major nuclear disaster.

Trends of Nuclear Accident in the Past

On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered severe accidents after an earthquake and a tsunami hit it. The cooling system was broken and as a result radioactive cores continued producing heat and eventually melted down. It attracted the world’s attention towards the dangers of nuclear energy.

However, the Indian government in dec. 2021 said that it is planning to build “10 indigenous reactors” and had granted “in principle approval” for 28 additional reactors, including 24 to be imported from France, the U.S. and Russia.

Why is the Indian governments’ nuclear policy misguided?

Given the post-Fukushima global and national trends in the nuclear industry, such a policy seems misguided;

Nuclear power is not an economical source of electricity: nuclear power plants are capital intensive and recent nuclear builds have suffered major cost overruns. For example, V.C. Summer nuclear project in South Carolina (U.S.) was abandoned due to cost overrun, after an expenditure of over $9billion.

Renewable-energy technologies have become cheaper: As per one estimate, the cost of electricity from solar photovoltaics and wind turbines in the U.S. declined by 90% and 72%, respectively, between 2009-21. The cost of for solar power, and solar-wind hybrid project was ₹2.14 per unit and ₹2.34 per unit respectively whereas power from the EPRs at Jaitapur was at least ₹ 15 per unit excluding transmission costs.

Global Nuclear Energy Share is declining: In contrast to India’s policy projection, the world’s nuclear power share in total electricity has declined from 17.5% in 1996 to just 10% in 2020.

Unviable Imports: India has to import many light-water reactors but imports are not happening on ground. For example, even after 13 years of the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal, not a single new nuclear plant has been established.

Design Issues in foreign reactors: Of the 24 foreign reactors with “in principle” approval, (a) 6 reactors are of the VVER (water-water energetic reactor) design which are already facing operational problems at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, (b) some reactors proposed to be imported from the U.S., has the same design that was abandoned in South Carolina, and (c) Some are of the EPR design that France has been unable to successfully complete in its home country.

Safety Concern:  For example, the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster raised concerns about safety of nuclear plants. In fact, many multinational nuclear suppliers demanded that they be indemnified of liability for the consequence of any accident in India. Therefore, India’s liability law was enacted to largely protects them. It means, manufacturers do not really believe in their own claims about how safe their reactors are.

Protest Against Nuclear Plants:  for example, “locals turned against” the Mithivirdi nuclear project after the Fukushima disaster in Gujarat.

Climate Change Induced Disasters: Climate change will increase the risk of nuclear reactor accidents. For example, A wildfire approached the Hanul nuclear power plant in South Korea. Also, in 2020, a windstorm caused the Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant in the US to cease its operations. The frequency of such extreme weather events is likely to increase in the future.

Way Ahead

Therefore, nuclear power is not the right choice to “adapt” to climate change, and to mitigate India’s carbon emissions since it cannot be deployed at the necessary scale.

The resources spent on nuclear plants will yield quicker results if they are redirected to renewables.

Source: The post is based on the article “Shutdown this misguided energy policy” published in the Hindu newspaper on 12th March 2022