------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/1TwplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Deccan Herald June 28, 2004 Construction work in 8 N-plants in full swing With overall physical progress of 37 per cent in construction of Kaiga units 3 and 4, major civil works were in full swing. MUMBAI, PTI: Simultaneous construction works for eight nuclear power plants across the country, including two Russian light water reactors, are in full swing and the project is progressing as per schedule, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) here. More than 85 per cent of the construction work on the two units 540 MW each (TAPP 3 and 4) has been completed and one of the units (TAPP) is expected to attain criticality by the end of this year, the DAE said in its recent annual report. Installation of major equipment such as steam generators, calandria tubes, coolant channels and feeders are completed in reactor building and works on other areas has reached advanced stage of progress, it added. Indicating that the performance of the existing nuclear power plants have improved drastically with an average availability factor of up to 91 per cent during 2003-04, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is surging ahead with its two 540 MW each pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) at Tarapur in Maharashtra. Work is also on at two units of 220 MW (PHWR) each at Kaiga in Karnataka, two units of 220 MW (PHWR) each at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan and two 1000 MW each light water reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, the report said. DAE has under its aegis five research centres and five public sector undertakings (PSUs) and three industrial organisations and three service organisations. NPCIL comes under DAE. Kaiga units With overall physical progress of 37 per cent in construction of Kaiga unit 3 and 4, major civil works were in full swing and about 45 per cent concreting is completed and the end-shields and calandria were erected and their welding was in progress in reactor building 3, the report said. Work is also in progress in fabrication and manufacture of equipment under various packages. At the 2x1000 MW Russian Light Water Reactors at Kudankulam, major civil work is on with 25 per cent concreting being completed. About 8000 MT of equipment was received at the site from Russia. The plants are scheduled for criticality and commissioning in 2007. On the atomic minerals, the report said, the Atomic Minerals Division (AMD) carried out surveys and exploration for the nuclear power programme of the country. The exploratory and evaluation drilling resulted in augmentation of additional resources of uranium at Wahkyn, West Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya; Rohil-Ghateshwar, Sikar district, Rajasthan; Gogi, Gulbarga district, Karnataka and Koppunuru, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. o o o o The Hindu June 30, 2004 Reactor construction to begin in mid-August By Our Special Correspondent CHENNAI, JUNE 29. The first pour of the concrete for the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), signalling the beginning of the reactor's construction at Kalpakkam, near Chennai, will be by mid-August, according to Baldev Raj, Director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam. The PFBR will generate 500 MWe. Excavation work is over and a sprawling mud-mat has been spread over the excavated area to get a level-ground on which the concrete foundation for the reactor will come up. The IGCAR has designed the reactor, which will be 14 metres tall and 14 metres in diameter. The Government of India has earmarked Rs. 4,500 crores for the project and its fuel cycle facilities. It will use mixed uranium-plutonium oxide as fuel, and liquid sodium as coolant and will generate power in 2010. PFBR marks the beginning of the second stage of India's nuclear power programme. The second stage envisages the building of a series of breeder reactors to provide energy security to the country. India is expected to generate about 5,30,000 MWe through the breeder route. They are called breeder reactors because they produce more fuel than they consume. The first stage has seen the construction of a series of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) in the country. Thorium-fuelled reactors will come up under the third stage. An Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) that will generate 300 MWe is being developed under the third stage. Dr. Baldev Raj said the breeder reactors would mark the continuity of the dream of Homi J. Bhabha, the pater familias of India's nuclear energy establishment. The IGCAR Director said the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in his recent Technology Day address had noted that energy security could come only from fast breeder reactors. Dr. Baldev Raj was speaking at a function here on Monday to facilitate him on his taking over as Director, IGCAR, and on his being selected for "The International Committee of NDT (Non-destructive Testing) Research Award." The challenge in building the PFBR was that "we have given a commitment to the nation that we will sell electricity from the PFBR at Rs. 3.20 a unit and we are committed to bringing it [this tariff] down substantially in 2010," he said. The design would be standardised to build four more breeder reactors of 500 MWe each before 2020 A.D. V.L. Sridharan, secretary, ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals, Chennai chapter, welcoming the gathering, said that "the International Committee of NDT Research Award" for which Dr. Baldev Raj has been selected was an international award given once in four years. o o o o The Daily Times June 29, 2004 Pakistan plans more nuclear power plants * Dr Pervez says CHASNUPP Unit-2 agreement signed * PAEC will prepare 'Vision 2025' plan for nuclear power development Staff Report ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is planning to build many more nuclear power plants that will have more indigenous content, said Dr Pervez Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Speaking at the 29th International Nathiagali Summer College, Dr Butt said Pakistan's specialised defence-related nuclear projects thrived due to the sustained government patronage, according to a press release. He said President Pervez Musharraf had not only shown his personal interest in nuclear power plans but also encouraged the PAEC to plan ahead for its development. He said the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (CHASNUPP) Unit-2 contract had been signed which would be one of the largest industrial projects in Pakistan. "We plan to build many more nuclear plants that will have a progressively increasing indigenous content," he added. Dr Butt said the PAEC had been tasked to prepare "Vision 2025" plan for nuclear power development in Pakistan, which would be presented to the government soon. "CHASNUPP Unit-1 is operating well with a 85 percent availability factor and we have also refurbished the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) after 30 years," he added. "The budgetary allocations to science and technology have been increased tremendously on the president's initiative, which apart from boosting scientific progress, have stopped brain drain," he said. Inaugurating the summer college, Prof Attaur Rahman, the Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) said the government's support had increased Pakistani scientists' contributions to world knowledge by 44 percent. He praised the PAEC for its indigenous efforts in basic research, industrial support services, improvement in agriculture, cancer treatment, human resource development and nuclear energy. Dr Rahman called for immediate measures to improve the education standards in Pakistan and the Islamic world. "In Pakistan, low-quality universities are mushrooming which are producing students who can hardly face modern challenges. He said strict criteria would be introduced for such universities and those failing to meet them would be closed down. He said that the budget for the universities had been raised to Rs 9,500 million from Rs 5,000 million in the new budget. Dr Rahman said 15 scientific centres would be set up in Pakistan. Dr Rahman said that the information gap between the North and South was alarming and it could be bridged only if the developing nations invested in their human resources and science and technology. o o o Dawn, 6 May 2004 Editorial Chashma agreement It is reassuring to see that China and Pakistan have signed a contract for the construction of the second unit of the Chashma Nuclear Power plant. The project is of vital national importance. The 300-megawatt (MW) second unit of the Chashma plant, which is expected to be operational in 2009, will help Pakistan correct its generation imbalances in favour of a cheaper source of energy. Under the 2002 policy for power generation projects, the focus has shifted from meeting the rise in demand for power to promoting cheaper and indigenous sources of power and developing renewable energy sources. As of now, Pakistan has an installed generation capacity of 18,598 MW. Of this, nuclear power accounts for barely three per cent while the bulk of the power comes from thermal sources which stands at 65 per cent, followed by 32 per cent hydroelectric power. Pakistan plans to drastically reduce its dependence on thermal power in the coming decade so that cheaper non-oil sources of energy make up the bulk of its generation capacity. Sino-Pakistan collaboration in nuclear power production goes back to the early 1980s when, disappointed by the refusal by certain western countries to sell nuclear equipment for power production, Pakistan turned to China. Chashma-I, which was commissioned in 1999, is the result of this cooperation in the nuclear field for peaceful purposes. Beijing has done well to make it clear that, like Chashma-I, Chashma-II will also be under international safeguards since this project has nothing to do with nuclear weapons technology. There is a genuine need for Pakistan to explore alternative sources of energy. It cannot afford a rising oil bill to meet thermal generation requirements while the vagaries of weather and rainfall make hydro-power generation an uncertain prospect. To meet this gap, Pakistan has turned to nuclear power. Chashma-II is a step in that direction. One hopes more projects will follow as Pakistan's power generation needs increase. o o o Dawn 15 May 2004 Letters to the Editor Alternative energy sources The government is trying to meet the country's energy needs. Recently it announced construction of another nuclear power plant in Chashma and a deal for buying electricity from neighbouring countries. Although nuclear power plants are a good source of energy, they also produce nuclear waste, and the government has never mentioned how it is dealing with the nuclear waste produced from nuclear power plants in Pakistan. Also, there is the issue of safety and environmental risk from nuclear power plants. There are other sources to make power available, but they have not yet been considered. The government should consider the following alternatives for dealing with the energy crisis facing the country. 1. Commercial biogas plant: Animal waste, wet plant matter, etc., are decomposed by bacteria to produce biogas which is burnt to produce electricity. This method is largely used in China and northern Italy. One such plant in the UK produces 12.5MW from poultry manure. 2. Geothermal energy: The easiest source of energy are places having "hot spots" - places with earth's magma pushing close to surface. Such hot spots are found in the Northern Areas, where many hot springs exist. These hot springs give out steam or can be used to produce steam which is used to produce electricity. 3. Wind power: This is nowadays the most commercialized alternative energy source. It is extensively used in the UK, Holland, the US, etc.. We can easily utilize this in Balochistan and in the Sindh coastal areas, as well as in the Northern Areas between valleys or on mountaintops. 4. Micro hydro: It is used extensively in China where some 100,000 units have been installed. It produces less than 5KW electricity and is mainly used for supplying power to local areas and to avoid the cost of long-distance transmission. It consists of small dams or turbines on rivers. This technology can be brought from China and utilized in Pakistan. 5. Improved efficiency: Pakistan's current energy production facilities are not operating at optimum efficiency. Some like the Warsak Dam have turbines missing and some dams require desilting. We are also incurring losses on transmission. Also, many gas-powered IPPs are not using the best furnaces and technology to produce maximum energy; most are working at 30-40 per cent efficiency. The government should constitute a separate organization to check on efficiency of all power plants, twice a year, and submit a report which should be printed in the media for everyone to see. This would help in keeping a check on the working of the organization as well. 6. Research institutes: An institute should be established to conduct research in other sources of energy production and their implementation in Pakistan. Scholarships should be granted to young scientists to join and help carry out this research. SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER London, UK o o o o o o NewScientist.com 26 June 04 Nuclear share of electricity predicted to fall NewScientist.com news service New nuclear power stations are being built in Asia and Eastern Europe but hardly anywhere else, according to a new global analysis by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Twenty-seven reactors are under construction in 10 countries, led by eight in India, four in Ukraine and three in Russia. However none are being built in any of the other 22 countries with nuclear power, including the US, Canada and all of Western Europe. At the moment 442 reactors in 32 countries generate 16 per cent of the world's electricity. On current trends, the IAEA predicts that this will shrink to between 11 and 12 per cent by 2030, in part due to the predicted increases in electricity generated by other methods. But the IAEA argues that an expansion to 27 per cent is needed to raise living standards and combat climate change. The agency, based in Vienna, Austria, is charged by the United Nations with both promoting and regulating nuclear power. "The more we look to the future, the more we can expect countries to be considering the potential benefits that expanding nuclear power has to offer for the global environment and for economic growth," says IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei. Wind energy However, this argument is rejected by Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, Maryland, US. He argues that using nuclear power to tackle climate change would cost 40 per cent more than using wind energy and improved energy efficiency. To make a significant dent in emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, Makhijani says 2000 large nuclear stations would have to be built worldwide over 40 years. "This would be a huge proliferation, safety and economic issue," he warns. "Nuclear power is the wrong approach to addressing global warming." Two of the reactors currently under construction are in Iran, and one is in North Korea - both countries suspected by the IAEA of using civil nuclear technology to develop nuclear weapons. Elsewhere, China, Taiwan and Japan are each building two reactors, with South Korea, Romania and Argentina building one each. The IAEA accepts that new nuclear plants are expensive and time-consuming to build. But in the future, says the agency's deputy director general for nuclear energy, Yuri Sokolov, "new innovative designs, with shorter construction times and significantly lower capital costs could help promote a new era of nuclear power". The IAEA analysis is being unveiled in Moscow on Saturday on the eve of an international conference to mark 50 years of nuclear power. The first nuclear electricity was delivered to consumers by a plant in Obninsk, near Moscow, on 26 June 1954. Rob Edwards _________________________________ SOUTH ASIANS AGAINST NUKES (SAAN): An informal information platform for activists and scholars concerned about Nuclearisation in South Asia. SAAN Web site URL: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org South Asians Against Nukes Mailing List: To subscribe send a blank message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SAAN compilers SOUTH ASIANS AGAINST NUKES (SAAN): An informal information platform for activists &amp; scholars concerned about the dangers of Nuclearisation in South Asia SAAN Mailing List: To subscribe send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SAAN Website: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sacw/saan [OLD URL: http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/NoNukes.html ] SAAN Mailing List Archive : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAAN_/ ________________________________ DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SAAN compilers. aterials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SAAN compilers. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAAN_/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
