Power of Promise

V Ramana M

Description

Nuclear power has been held out as possibly the most important source of energy for India. And the dream of a nuclear-powered India has been supported by huge financial budgets and high-level political commitment for over six decades. Nuclear power has also been presented as safe, environmentally benign and cheap. Physicist and writer M.V. Ramana offers a detailed narrative of the evolution of India s nuclear energy programme, examining different aspects of it and the claims of success made on its behalf. In The Power of Promise he makes a historically nuanced and compelling argument as to why the nuclear energy programme has failed in the past and why its future is dubious. Ramana shows that nuclear power has been more expensive than conventional forms of electricity generation, that the ever-present risk of catastrophic accidents is heightened by observed organizational inadequacies at nuclear facilities, and that existing nuclear fuel cycle facilities have been correlated with impacts on public health and the environment. He offers detailed information and analysis that should serve to deepen the debate on whether India should indeed embark on a massive nuclear programme.

Informations

• Publié par: Penguin Books Ltd
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788184755596
• Langue: English

Extrait

M.V. RAMANA
The Power of Promise
Examining Nuclear Energy in India
Contents
List of Acronyms
Introduction
1. History
2. Power Reactors
3. Uranium
4. Plutonium
5. Heavy Water
6. Economics
7. Safety
8. Environment and Health
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Nuclear Reactor Types
Appendix 2: The US-India Nuclear Deal
Appendix 3: The Environmental Impact Assessment Process
References
Acknowledgements
Copyright Page
Advance Praise for the Book
Solidly researched and meticulously argued, The Power of Promise is a landmark in the debate on nuclear energy in India. Ramana has managed to make complex technological, economic and other issues intelligible with great lucidity. Essential reading for everyone concerned about the difficult energy choices we confront today.
-Amita Baviskar, sociologist of environment and development, Institute of Economic Growth
The Power of Promise will serve as the authoritative source for many years to come on India s civilian nuclear power program. Ramana s comprehensive and expert history of India s efforts to establish nuclear power as the modern energy source to drive development is without peer. With style and detail he tells the story of false starts, overblown claims, accidents, cost overruns, and, despite the difficulties, continued hope that nuclear power will be the answer to India s economic underdevelopment. This is a must-read for all who are interested in the future of nuclear power in India-and around the world.
-Kennette Benedict, executive director and publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Power of Promise is as timely as it is important. I have no doubt that it will come to be regarded as a landmark, not only in the debates on nuclear and energy issues, but also in the history and sociology of Indian science.
-Amitav Ghosh ( www.amitavghosh.com/blog )
M.V. Ramana has provided a concise history of the Indian nuclear power program, along with insights and analyses only very few can logically put together. Very readable and a bold depiction of events and facts.
-A. Gopalakrishnan, former chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
Combining sober prose with solid research and sharp analysis, The Power of Promise is an authoritative and comprehensive study of India s nuclear energy industry. This is a story of, among other things, accidents, breakdowns, operational delays, cost overruns, and of large promises consistently broken or unfulfilled. This much celebrated industry is, on closer scrutiny, revealed to be the whitest of white elephants. There may still be political compulsions for having nuclear weapons as a deterrent ; but, as M.V. Ramana s outstanding work of scholarship so convincingly demonstrates, on environmental, ethical, and especially economic grounds, there is really no case for promoting nuclear energy in India.
-Ramachandra Guha, author of India After Gandhi
The good news in this understated but devastating study is that the Indian nuclear establishment and its international backers cannot deliver the massive capability they have promised. The bad news is that their reckless speed in the face of rising local resistance can create disasters that could dwarf Fukushima.
-Anand Patwardhan, documentary film-maker
The Power of Promise is an excellent work on the ongoing energy challenges being faced by the fast growing economy of India, and examines in detail the current policy of relying on nuclear energy as the saviour of its projected development program.
-Admiral Ramdas, former Chief of Naval Staff
M.V. Ramana has captured in a readable, yet rigorous, manner, the saga of a nation s obsession with nuclear energy. From the heady days of Jawaharlal Nehru and Homi Bhabha, to the current reality of an entrenched nuclear bureaucracy with virtually endless political power and patronage, and the serious challenges from growing resistance movements, The Power of Promise is a fascinating, well researched journey. A must read for all those who seriously seek a better understanding of our future energy options and factors at work under the surface.
-Lalita Ramdas, former board chair, Greenpeace International; founding member, Greenpeace India
The Power of Promise is the first independent assessment of six decades of India s nuclear programme. Based entirely on official and other published documents, this exhaustive work critically examines what the nuclear establishment has been promising all these years, what it has actually delivered, and its new promises over the next half century.
-C. Rammanohar Reddy, editor, Economic and Political Weekly
Official disclosures on nuclear technology in India have tended to underplay the risks and the costs, and overplay the benefits. This has impaired the quality of political debate. Through his incisive analysis of what the nuclear establishment had promised in the past and what it could really achieve, M.V. Ramana has succeeded in creating an environment in which the discourse on the technology will get deepened and more sensible outcomes will emerge.
-E.A.S. Sarma, former Secretary, ministry of power, Government of India
In The Power of Promise , the dream of a nuclear power renaissance in India runs into a thick wall of technical, economic and historical facts, and falls to the ground. The implications of this meticulously researched, thoughtfully argued, authoritative, state of the art analysis extend beyond India and even nuclear power itself to shed new light on the character and future of nuclear danger in its entirety.
-Jonathan Schell, author of The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of Nuclear Danger
The Power of Promise is an unprecedented systemic analysis of underlying historical, technical, economic and political aspects of nuclear energy in India, and will be a pure work of reference. Don t claim to know anything about India s nuclear programme if you have not read this book yet.
-Mycle Schneider, energy analyst and author of World Nuclear Industry Status Report series
This magisterial study, demonstrating a mastery of the existing literature and a sure grasp of the science and technologies involved, is now the single most authoritative account anywhere of the Department of Atomic Energy s performance record and its claims to providing cheap, safe and plentiful electricity in the future.
-Achin Vanaik, retired professor of International Relations and Global Politics, University of Delhi
List of Acronyms
AEC
Atomic Energy Commission
AECL
Atomic Energy Canada Limited
AERB
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
AFR
Away from Reactor
AHWR
Advanced Heavy Water Reactor
AMD
Atomic Minerals Directorate
BARC
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
BARCCIS
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Channel Inspection System
BAU
Business as Usual
BEIR
Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation
BFEA
BARC Facilities Employees Association
BHAVINI
Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam
BHEL
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party
BWR
Boiling Water Reactor
CAG
Comptroller and Auditor General
CANDU
Canada Deuterium Uranium
CCEA
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
CDA
Core Disruptive Accident
CEA
French Atomic Energy Commission
CEA
Central Electricity Authority
CERC
Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
CHTR
Compact High Temperature Reactor
CIR
Canada India Reactor (subsequently renamed CIRUS)
CISED
Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development
CITU
Confederation of Indian Trade Unions
CPIO
Central Public Information Officer
CRPF
Central Reserve Police Force
CSIR
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
CWMF
Central Waste Management Facility (Kalpakkam)
DAE
Department of Atomic Energy
DCF
Discounted Cash Flow
DEFENDUS
Development-Focused, End Use-Oriented, and Service-Directed
DGMS
Directorate General of Mines Safety
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic Acid
EAC
Expert Appraisal Committee
EAR
Estimated Additional Resources
EBR-1
Experimental Breeder Reactor-1
ECCS
Emergency Core Cooling System
EIA
Environmental Impact Assessment
EPR
European/Evolutionary Pressurized Reactor
ESC
Energy Survey Committee
FBR
Fast Breeder Reactor
FBTR
Fast Breeder Test Reactor
FPC
Fuel Policy Committee
FV
Future Value
FWL
Footwall Lodeg
gCO 2 e/kWh
Gramme of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent per Kilowatt-Hour
GCR
Gas-Cooled, Graphite-Moderated Reactor
GE
General Electric Company
GW
Gigawatts
HEPA
High Efficiency Particulate Air (Filter)
HEU
Highly Enriched Uranium
HLW
High-Level Waste
HRO
High Reliability Organization
HW
Heavy Water
HWB
Heavy Water Board
HWL
Hanging Wall Lode
HWP
Heavy Water Plant
IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency
IARC
International Agency for Research on Cancer
IAS
Indian Administrative Service
ICRP
International Commission on Radiological Protection
IDPD
Indian Doctors for Peace and Development
IEP
Integrated Energy Policy
IGCAR
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research
IISc
Indian Institute of Science
ILW
Intermediate-Level Waste
INFCE
International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation
INTUC
Indian National Trade Union Congress
IR
Inferred Resources
ITER
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
JOAR
Jharkhandi Organization against Radiation
JSPCB
Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board
KAPS
Kakrapar Atomic Power Station
KARP
Kalpakkam Atomic Reprocessing Plant
kPa
Kilopascals
KSU
Khasi Students Union
kWh
Kilowatt-Hour
LET
Linear Energy Transfer
LEU
Low Enriched Uranium
LF
Load Factor (used interchangeably with capacity factor)
LLW
Low-Level Waste
LWGR
Light-Water-Cooled, Graphite-Moderated Reactors
LWR
Light Water Reactor
MAPS
Madras Atomic Power Station
MECL
Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd
MECO
Montreal Engineering Company
MFBR
Metallic Fuelled Fast Breeder Reactor
MJ
Megajoules (million joules)
MoEF
Ministry of Environment and Forests
MoP
Ministry of Power
MOX
Mixed Oxide (a mixt