'Nearly 50%': Vinayak Chatterjee Sees Big Private Sector Role In India's Nuclear Energy Ambitions
India must focus on small modular reactors to increase nuclear power's share in its energy mix, Vinayak Chatterjee said.
Around half of the country's nuclear energy will come from private sector in the future, said Vinayak Chatterjee, founder and managing trustee of The Infravision Foundation, as he called for the need to develop small modular reactors (SMR).
India needs SMR technology and infrastructure to achieve its long-term goal of increasing nuclear power's share in its energy mix, Chatterjee said, during a televised interaction with NDTV Profit on Monday.
"Nearly 50% of India's envisioned nuclear power will come from the private sector," he said. "These don't have to be large plants of 3,000 or 4,000 megawatt, but SMRs, which are 300-400 MW."
He explained that such SMRs can be assembled on site, like near an industrial cluster or a city, instead of the large construction required for nuclear power plants. "SMR technology is safer, factory-produced, (and comprises) smaller modules that can be largely dispersed," he said.
Chatterjee also highlighted the closed-club nature of global atomic energy technology, as big powers like the US resisted sharing the technology with India for a long time, fearing its use for nuclear armament.
Small modular reactors are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW per unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.
Given their smaller footprint, SMRs can be sited at locations not suitable for larger nuclear power plants.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, SMRs have reduced fuel requirements. Power plants based on SMRs may require less frequent refuelling, every three to seven years, in comparison to between one and two years for conventional plants. Some SMRs are designed to operate for up to 30 years without refuelling.
Watch the interview here:
