Nuclear power plant in Bangalore

BANGALORE: Toshiba Corp and Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates would team up to develop a next-generation nuclear reactor that can operate for up to 100 years without refueling, the Nikkei business daily said.

TerraPower, which is effectively owned by Gates, and Toshiba would focus on the Traveling-Wave Reactor (TWR), which consumes depleted uranium as fuel, Nikkei said.

TWRs will likely come in sizes ranging from 100,000 Kilowatts to 1 million KW, which is comparable to many of today's reactors in terms of power output, the paper said.

I want to present this problem from a different viewpoint to make the reader think about it.

Nuclear energy is not ready to be used as we have no permanently safe method of dealing with nuclear waste. New technologies and a lot of experience makes the construction of nuclear power plant like this one possible, with smaller quantities of uranium. However this still does not solve the problem of dangerous nuclear waste as a by product of nuclear power generation. The nuclear waste consists of used uranium and there is no secure way to dispose it. Also, the heavy waters are usually directly diverted to the river or sea from the nuclear power plants.

For the Indian economy it may not be a right investment because uranium is not naturally available in India. India would then import uranium from countries like Canada which is the largest exporter of uranium in the world.

Considering the time required to build a nuclear power plant, the financial investment and the steadily rising price of uranium, this option seems pretty hazardous.

With the current use of uranium for power generation the reserves are expected to last for just another 80 to 100 years and the price of the primary material will continue increasing.

Taking the example of the Uk where they invested in ten nuclear power plants that gives 26% of the electricity required by the country with the aim of achieving lower electricity rates. A recent article in the Times indicates a hike in the cost of electricity price of up to 25%.

Nuclear energy is not the first solution that we should consider since there are safer and cleaner options to meet our energy needs.

A country like India should pioneer the development of clean energy on a large scale. This is not just because of shortage of fossils fuels or the potential dangers of nuclear energy but because sustainable method of energy development would benefit India on the long run.

One option that can be considered is a model of some villages in Switzerland and Germany. Every house is connected to the common power grid but is also capable of producing energy at an individual level. This is done using whatever natural means is feasible like photovoltaic panels, turbines, biomass or geothermal energy. Each unit primarily uses this self generated power. A shortage can be compensated by energy from the grid and any surplus power produced by the unit can be sent back to the grid to be used somewhere else. By doing that the demand for electricity from the main grid can decrease substantially.

This kind of interactive power grid can be easily used in India. After some research it will be possible to chose the best strategy to follow in all the different cities to use all the available natural energy resources.

It seems to be a contradiction to think of having a nuclear power plant when Bangalore is touched by the sun throughout the year and with a lower investment every house can employ the electricity generated by the photovoltaic panels placed on the roof. And the sun is not the only natural source that can be used in Bangalore as its location is ideal to tap wind energy too.

What the city and its citizens should do is to reduce the waste of energy.

In order to find a solution, the public administration should, on one hand, invest in reviewing the existing electric grid and to provide incentives for consumers to use low energy electronic devices. On the other hand all the citizens have to be more responsible with their consumption of electricity and they should realize that a little care on their part could became a great economy for the city and it would reduce the burden on our environment.

Its from the simple things that we have the power to make a difference. Just leaving the fan on (10-25W/h) or leaving the electronic appliance in standby mode (4W/h) consumes enormous amounts of energy. If each household leaves one of these appliance on standby mode for one hour, the 7 million people who live in Bangalore would consume 28 MW. That is the capacity of a small nuclear power plant.

The cities that we have today are like a leaky pots that need to be filled. The idea of using nuclear energy is like increasing the flow of water to pot but it cannot remain full without us first fixing the leak.

The public administration must invest money in information, research and the modernization of the electricity lines and to promote the use of low consumption of energy in the new buildings. Only after considering all this, we can think of adopting the nuclear option, if at all we need it.