Nuclear Energy Development in France and India: sharing experiences and learnings
Nuclear power development has gained significant importance for India due to the growing need for energy and the limited energy resource options. And with climate change science pointing to unsustainable patterns arising from conventional fuel usage, there are very few choices that remain for India to take in order to meet its large-scale energy demands. Nuclear energy remains as one of the mature and reliable options that India would like to tap for large-scale deployment. India plans to install 20,000 MW of capacity from nuclear power plants by 2020. With the operation of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant (RAPP-unit 6) achieving criticality, the 19th reactor of the Nuclear Power Corporation India Limited (NPCIL) took the total existing tally of installed capacity to 4560 MW in January 2010. The total nuclear power capacity is planned to be increased to 7,280 MW by completion of projects under construction in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. And in the long term, India intends to augment installed capacity to 60,000 MW by 2032. With large-scale deployment as an inevitable option to meeting India¿s power needs, the private sector is expected to enter the field in a major way. As the Indian nuclear power programme grows in scale and complexity of technologies, there is a need for comprehensive planning and linking all aspects of the fuel cycle so that the atomic energy establishments in the country are in a position to cater to be able to the industry. In this regard, the French experience with nuclear power can be one of the most pertinent examples for India to learn from. France has over 75% of its power coming from nuclear energy. And with an elaborate nuclear power programme in place in France, India stands to learn a great deal from your experience.
To facilitate this platform for sharing experiences, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Electricité de France (EDF-India) along with the Indian Nuclear Society (INS) organized a one-day workshop titled "Nuclear Energy Development in France and India: sharing experiences and learnings between EDF, INS and TERI". The workshop was divided into three sessions as follows:
Session 1: Regulation of Nuclear Energy
Session 2: Environment, waste and safety aspects of nuclear energy
Session 3: Public engagement and consultation while setting up nuclear power projects
Each session had speakers from Indian atomic agency and from EDF who presented their country perspectives and organisation-perspectives respectively. The presentations were followed by a question and answer round with participants. Participants included different project developers, equipment suppliers, funding agencies, government agencies and academia. The workshop started with a review of nuclear regulatory mechanisms across the world that was presented by Ms Ruchika Chawla, TERI. Following this, the nuclear regulatory representatives from India and EDF compared and debated the two country mechanisms. Similarly, latter sessions included stimulating analogies and discussions with very interesting question put forth by participants to the speakers during the Q&A rounds. The high attendance maintained till the end of the workshop was indicative of the mood and interest in the theme. The area of public perception came out to be as a very important area based on workshop deliberations. It was felt that public perception will need to be addressed in a very strategic and holistic manner to enable sustainable nuclear development in the years to come.
To facilitate this platform for sharing experiences, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Electricité de France (EDF-India) along with the Indian Nuclear Society (INS) organized a one-day workshop titled "Nuclear Energy Development in France and India: sharing experiences and learnings between EDF, INS and TERI". The workshop was divided into three sessions as follows:
Session 1: Regulation of Nuclear Energy
Session 2: Environment, waste and safety aspects of nuclear energy
Session 3: Public engagement and consultation while setting up nuclear power projects
Each session had speakers from Indian atomic agency and from EDF who presented their country perspectives and organisation-perspectives respectively. The presentations were followed by a question and answer round with participants. Participants included different project developers, equipment suppliers, funding agencies, government agencies and academia. The workshop started with a review of nuclear regulatory mechanisms across the world that was presented by Ms Ruchika Chawla, TERI. Following this, the nuclear regulatory representatives from India and EDF compared and debated the two country mechanisms. Similarly, latter sessions included stimulating analogies and discussions with very interesting question put forth by participants to the speakers during the Q&A rounds. The high attendance maintained till the end of the workshop was indicative of the mood and interest in the theme. The area of public perception came out to be as a very important area based on workshop deliberations. It was felt that public perception will need to be addressed in a very strategic and holistic manner to enable sustainable nuclear development in the years to come.