How
Essential Is The Nuclear Power? Not The Best Option
By Shankar Sharma
31 July,
2008
Deccan
Herald
The debate as to whether nuclear power is a safe and suitable option for India has been going on for many decades. While the proponents of the nuclear power have been offering many arguments in favour of the option, there have been any numbers of issues raised by those who think it is not the best solution to meet the legitimate energy requirements of our society.
While more and more complex safety systems are being designed and built for the nuclear power stations, it should be noted that they are only increasing the number of sub-systems and the complexity. Such complex systems can result in increasing the risk of failure of individual sub-systems/sub-components and hence increase in the number of automatic shutdowns.
So much
has been said about the capability of India’s nuclear establishments,
especially Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), to ensure complete
safety of nuclear power projects. The common belief amongst the public
is that the people manning AERB are generally deputed from Nuclear
Power Corporation Ltd, which is the operator of the nuclear power
plants in the country. In such a situation, can we be assured of complete
operational independence from AERB?
There have been suggestions from Indian nuclear authorities that the
safe storage of nuclear waste is technically feasible during its active
life time. But what about the huge costs involved? Are the efforts
to keep nuclear waste safe for thousands of years worthy of all the
risks involved? In this regard, there are credible and serious concerns
that while the present generation may get the benefit of electricity
from nuclear power, the future generations have to deal with all the
risks and costs associated with the spent fuel. Is this fair or responsible?
What about the security of supply of nuclear fuel required for the
large number of reactors (as many as 40 additional reactors as per
one estimate) proposed? While the difficulties encountered in getting
reliable fuel supply to nuclear reactors supplied by Canada are still
in our memory, how can we be certain that the same situation will
not be repeated in the future? The main reason provided for lower
Plant Load Factor of the existing nuclear power stations in the country
is the shortage of nuclear fuel.
If our society decides to spend horrendous amounts of our resources in establishing 40 additional reactors, how can we be assured that all these reactors will have adequate quantities of fuel available throughout their economic life time?
In this regard the issues which have been raised in a number of papers released within the country on the safety and economics of nuclear industry, need to be fully appreciated and addressed. If we also take into objective account the long-term storage costs and all the associated environmental and health costs, the nuclear power projects will be much costlier than the coal-based power projects.
Although a massive amount of money is reported to have been spent on various activities associated with nuclear power research since Independence, the contribution of the nuclear power to the total installed power capacity in India as of now is only about 3.5 per cent and it is projected to go up to only five per cent by 2032. For such a small share of the installed capacity, should the society adapt an option, which has failed to win public’s confidence even after 60 years after Independence?
In the background of all these issues, and having accepted the existence of high degree of public health risks associated with nuclear power, the question to be asked of ourselves is whether nuclear power stations are critical for the development of all sections of our society, and whether we can achieve the adequate levels of Human Development Index without them.
The primary objective of a nuclear power station is the production of electricity. There are many benign ways of producing the electricity. Has our society harnessed all the alternatives available for us to the maximum extent? What is the efficiency of the usage of the existing electricity generating capacity in the country? Is there a scope for meeting all the legitimate demand for electricity of our society by a combination of these benign options? Can an objective analysis of costs vs benefits of a nuclear power project — as compared to a coal or hydro power project — prove beyond reasonable doubt that it is in the best interest of our society?
Power industry experts say that there are enough non-nuclear power options, including measures such as efficiency improvement, demand side management, energy conservation and renewable energy sources to meet our legitimate electricity demands on a sustainable basis. Our society must seek satisfactory answer to all these relevant questions before embracing the nuclear power option for the future. It is not without solid basis that many countries are saying ‘no’ to them, while some countries are actively considering the decommissioning of many of the existing nuclear power stations.
