Nuclear energy: India
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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Nehru declined US offer
The Times of India, Jun 14 2016
`India would've been in N-club in '60s had Nehru said yes to US' India need not have had to make desperate efforts now to get membership of the NSG had first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru accepted then US President John F Kennedy's offer of helping the country detonate a nuclear device much before China did in 1964, according to former foreign secretary Maharajakrishna Rasgotra. He also said that if Nehru had accepted the offer, not only would India have tested the nuclear device first in Asia, before China, but it also “would have deterred China from launching its war of 1962 and even imparted a note of caution to (Pakistan's) Field Marshal Ayub Khan's plans for war in 1965,“ according to an Observer Research Foundation (ORF) release. Rasgotra was speaking at the release of his new book `A Life in Diplomacy' at ORF.
“Kennedy, who was an admirer of India's democracy and held its leader Jawaharlal Nehru in very high esteem, felt that democratic India, not Communist China, should be the first Asian country to conduct a nuclear test,“ Rasgotra said.
Kennedy's handwritten letter was accompanied by a technical note from the chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission, setting out the assistance his organisation would provide to Indian atomic scientists to detonate an American device from atop a tower in Rajasthan, the releasesaid.
In the letter, Kennedy had said he and the American establishment were aware of Nehru's strong views against nuclear tests and nuclear weapons, but emphasised the political and security threat China's test would spell for Nehru's government and India's security , it said, adding that the American leader's letter emphasised that “nothing is more important than national security“.
1964: India could have gone nuclear
The Times of India, May 20, 2016
India could have gone nuclear as early as 1964: US intelligence
As early as 1964, the US intelligence community had concluded that India was in a position to develop nuclear weapons, a declassified State Department report said, citing frequent change of the fuel core of the Canada-supplied reactor at Trombay.
"The Indians are now in a position to begin nuclear weapons development if they chose to do so. We have no evidence, however, of a weapon research and development programme and would expect to see some if the programme existed," the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) said in a report on May 14, 1964.
The report along with several others was published by the National Security Archive and the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project.
Noting that the fuel core of the Canadian-Indian Reactor (CIR) at Trombay was being changed every six months, the US intelligence report had raised questions about India's nuclear objectives.
It said a six-month period was quite short for "normal research reactor operations," but it was the optimum time for using the CIR's spent fuel for producing weapons grade plutonium.
The report said the Canadians had not established specific safeguards when they made the reactor available to India thus giving the Indians a free hand in using the newly-built Phoenix plutonium separation plant to produce the fissile material. According to the State Department report, "India's leadership might have had nationalistic motives for building the Phoenix plant but if it wanted a nuclear weapons capability it would seek such a capability".
All these facts just prove a point that Congress was in alliance with some external forces to downgrade India right after Independence. Hope after eliminating Cong India will be a super power soon.
According to INR, India had taken the "first deliberate decision in the series leading to a nuclear weapon," which was to have "available, on demand, unsafeguarded weapons-grade plutonium or, at the least, the capacity to produce it."
The report said that a scholar characterised this as India's "proliferation drift, the slow but sure moves towards the development of nuclear weapons."
The scientists
Bhabha, Ramanna, Sethna ¬India's nuclear trio
The Times of India, Jun 27 2016
Who controls the world's nuclear energy resources?
Unlike other minerals, uranium, the main fuel for nuclear reactors, is not freely traded. The technology of building nuclear reactors is closely guarded by a voluntary association of 46 countries called the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which follows certain guidelines for supplying uranium as well as the technology to make nuclear reactors. Its policies are determined mainly by the industrialised countries and many in the developing world criticise it for not letting them have access to an energy source that can help them meet their growing energy demand.
Since when is India trying to harness nuclear energy?
After completing his PhD in nuclear physics from Cambridge University, Homi Jehangir Bhabha returned to India in 1939 when the Second World War started. He became instrumental in convincing Jawaharlal Nehru to start India's own nuclear energy programme. Under Bhabha, the Department of Atomic Energy was formed in the 1950s and was later joined by Raja Ramanna and Homi Sethna. The trio is credited with spearheading India's nuclear energy programme.
What was the Atom for Peace programme?
Apart from the fear of proliferation of nuclear weapons, there was also a huge commercial interest in nuclear energy . Experts say that under pressure from the industry , the American government started its Atom for Peace programme and enacted the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which provided American industries wider access to the government's nuclear technology . The programme is often seen as an American attempt to dominate the world nuclear market. Following the Act, there was a UN conference on the peaceful uses of atomic energy presided over by Bhabha. Under this programme, the US agreed to sell India heavy water for a reactor that was to be provided by Canada with the stipulation that it would be only for peaceful use.
Why didn't India sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty when it was getting technology for peaceful use of nuclear power?
In the midst of the Atom for Peace programme, when some countries were provided nuclear reactors, many countries including the UK, France and China were testing atom bombs.
Following the French test in 1961, an Irish resolution for international agree ment to refrain from trans fer or acquisition of nuclear weapons was unanimously passed by the UN. The negotia ions started in 1965 and later a clause was included that only those states that had exploded a nuclear device prior to January 1, 1967 would be recognised as nuclear weapons states. This meant China's inclusion and India's exclusion. Signing a treaty against nuclear tests without the complete disarmament of other nuclear powers was rejected by India and many other countries.
What became the trigger for the formation of NSG?
After India's defeat in the war with China, public opinion started building for India to conduct its nuclear test as a deterrent for China's future aggression. In 1964, China too joined the elite club of nuclear states by testing an atom bomb and Bhabha started aggressive lobbying for Indian nuclear weapons, giving radio speeches and so on. Bhabha died in a plane crash in 1966 and the programme was taken forward by Ramanna and Sethna. On May 18, 1974, India carried out an underground nuclear explosion in Pokhran in Rajasthan. A research reactor, CIRUS, which was supplied by Canada, was used as the source of plutonium.This incident became the trigger for the formation of the NSG.This is seen as the first incident when a weapon was manufactured by using material diverted from a civilian nuclear programme, but it wasn't the first example of intentional or unintentional help of a nuclear state to a non-nuclear country in making the weapon. It is alleged that the US aided UK's weapon programme, the Soviets helped the Chinese and Israel was helped by the French. India never acknowledged that the 1974 tests were for a nuclear bomb and the peaceful use cause was violated. It was said that the test was done to check the possible use of nuclear explosives in mining and earth moving operations.
Why didn't India sign the NPT after the 1998 nuclear test?
After the 1998 tests, when India acknowledged testing nuclear bombs and was followed by Pakistan, the UN Security council offered both India and Pakistan the option of becoming stateparties to the NPT as non-nuclear weapon states. This was not accepted. Experts believe a possible solution could be giving the status of nuclear weapon state to India to pit it at par with China, which is not possible under the present act. China and other countries recently blocked India's bid to join the NSG on the ground of it being a non-signatory of NPT.
Ballistic Missiles
Hague Code of Conduct against proliferation signed: 2016
The Times of India, Jun 03 2016
India inks Hague missile code, says won't impact national security
India announced it has joined the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC), adding that the decision would not in any way compromise its national security interests. The foreign ministry said it had notified the HCoC Central Contact in Vienna through diplomatic channels.
Established in 2002, the HCoC is a voluntary , legally non-binding international confidence building and transparency measure that seeks to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles that are capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
The decision to join HCoC comes just ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit to the US and also the plenary session of the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) this month where India's application for membership will come up for consideration. There are several nations in NSG who believe India joining the group, which controls nuclear commerce, could weaken the international non proliferation regime as India has not signed the Non-Pro liferation Treaty(NPT).
“India's joining the Code signals our readiness to further strengthen global non-proliferation objectives,“ said the government in a press release.
Close to 140 nations have joined HCoC. China and Pakistan though are not among these. When asked if India's joining HCoC will effectively mean that the country has to shelve its Agni missile programme, foreign ministry spokesperson said, “Our national security interest will not be impacted in any manner, whatsoever, by joining HCoC“.
Swarup also said that Indi a's bid to enter the Missile Technology Control Regime was “on track“ and the process to grant the membership was expected to be completed soon.
As part of his upcoming five-nation tour, PM Modi will also visit Switzerland and Mexico, both members of NSG. Modi will try and enlist support from these countries ahead of the NSG plenary . The NSG operates on the basis of consensus and it is important for India to ensure their support and help New Delhi isolate China which has opposed India's bid on the ground that India hasn't signed NPT.
Switzerland has always been extremely committed to strengthening all non proliferation regimes, particularly NPT. It had reservations about NSG giving India a “clean waiver“ in 2008 to carry out nuclear commerce but finally supported India.
Nuclear power
2013-17, capacities of nuclear power plants in India
The Times of India, December 15, 2016
2016: Capacity 6,000MW; Kudankulam II operational
The Times of India, Sep 01 2016
Sivakumar B
India powers past 6,000MW mark in nuclear energy
With synchronisation of the second unit of the Kudankulam power plant, India's civil nuclear programme has reached a couple of landmarks: the Kudankulam project turned a page on protests and a legal challenge over its safety parameters in the Supreme Court, and India crossed the 6,000MW mark in nuclear power. Once the output of Unit II is scaled up to a full 1,000MW in two months, India's 22 nuclear power reactors will be able to generate 6,780MW of power and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) expects four more reactors to be commissioned in a year. Unit II is functioning smoothly as scientists seem to have incorporated the right lessons from hitches that marred Unit I's functioning after attaining criticality in 2013.
The two 1,000MW nuclear units built with Russian assistance have made Tamil Nadu the highest consumer of nuclear power on a daily basis.Kudankulam I and II are also the last nuclear units in India built with foreign collaboration that will not attract the liability clause legislated after the India-US nuclear deal.
NPCIL engineers learnt bitter lessons while commissioning Unit I. The reactor has been in continuous operation only since February 2016. Protests in 2011-12 by anti-nuclear activists delayed the project by months when it was over 90% ready , but not much is known of the pro blems it faced later. The Unit I has been operating continuously for 189 days since February 22 and has generated 11,269 million units of electricity since October 2013.
But NPCIL did its homework and made changes to Unit II. “We carried out all changes effected to Unit I on Unit II. This made the commissioning of the second unit easier,“ Kudankulam project site director R S Sundar told TOI. In the near future -around six months to a year -two indigenous reactors each in Rajasthan and Kakrapar in Gujarat should be ready . “Beyond Kudankulam, Nuclear Power Corporation is hopeful of commissioning the four reactors in a year. These reactors are built by NPCIL engineers and each has a capacity of 700MW,“ Sundar said.
Not all of India's 22 nuclear reactors are functioning to full capacity . “A total of 14 reactors are under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. Only these reactors are eligible to use imported nuclear fuel and are currently operational. The plant load factor (PLF) of these reactors is around 90%,“ a former Atomic Energy Commission chief said.
The PLF of reactors using indigenous fuel is less.For example, the PLF of two units of 220MW capacity in Kalpakkam is around 6570% as there is a shortage of nuclear fuel in the country .
“As we synchronised Unit-2 with the grid on August 29, the total nuclear power generation in the country on that day was 5100MW.This is a new high for nuclear power generation. As on date, Unit-2 is generating 270MW and we will be scaling up the generation in the coming days,“ said Sundar.
