NUCLEAR POWER – ENVIRONMENT
News:
The risks of the Zaporizhzhia NPP
What's in the news?
● Nuclear
power plants (NPPs) are complex and sophisticated facilities with several
layers of safety measures, but no NPP in the world is built to withstand
war-yet this is the risk that has befallen the Zaporizhzhia NPP in Ukraine.
Key takeaways:
● It
was taken over by Russian forces in
May 2022 and has since had to operate in conditions that threaten safety.
● In
June, a Lithuania-based NGO named the Bellona Foundation published a report
analyzing the risks associated with the hostilities around the Zaporizhzhia NPP
based on the facility's design, safety measures, and the local geography.
Nuclear Power:
● Nuclear
energy, also known as atomic energy, is the energy released in large quantities
by processes that affect atomic nuclei which are the dense cores of atoms.
Potential of Nuclear Power in India:
1. Thorium and Uranium reserves:
● India
has vast reserves of Thorium that can fuel India’s nuclear energy provided
appropriate technology.
● India’s
thorium deposits, estimated at 360,000tonnes, and natural uranium deposits at
70,000tonnes. The country’s thorium reserves make up 25% of the global reserves.
2. Energy poverty:
● Although
India is the 3rd largest producer of
electricity, about 20 % of the population of the country does not have
access to electricity today.
● The
per capita consumption of electricity is very low at about 1,181 kWh per annum,
about half of the world average and way below that of advanced countries.
● There
exist shortages in energy and peak power
in the range 10-15%.
3. Energy demand:
● Nuclear
energy is a critical part for India’s future energy security.
● As
we know India’s annual energy demand is
expected to rise to 800 GW by 2032, it is very important to consider every
source of energy in the optimum energy mix.
4. Energy efficiency:
● Quantities
of nuclear fuel needed are considerably less than thermal power plants.
● For
instance, 10000 MW generation by coal will need 30-35 million tons of coal, but
nuclear fuel needed will be only 300-350 tons.
5. Economic growth:
● Rapid
economic growth is also critical to achieve developmental objectives and
poverty alleviation.
● A
sustained economic growth of about 8 to 10% is needed over the next few
decades.
● As
electricity is a key driver for economic
growth, it is necessary that there is a massive augmentation in electricity
capacity, apart from transmissions and distribution systems.
6. Decrease in Energy Supply:
● Energy
supply has been negatively affected by changing weather patterns.
● As
water reservoirs decreases due to lower precipitation and increased
evaporation, capacity for electricity production from hydropower and other
water-intensive generation technologies may decline.
7. Climate change:
● Due
to its emission-free nature, nuclear
energy can contribute to global efforts under the Paris Agreement.
● India’s
Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has outlined goals to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of its
economy by 45% by 2030 as well as increase the clean energy electricity
capacity to 50% of the total installed capacity in the same period.
Issues and Risks related with Nuclear Energy:
1. Meltdowns:
● A
meltdown is an accident in which severe overheating of the nuclear reactor
results in the melting of the reactor’s core. If a meltdown occurred, a nuclear
power plant could release radiation into
the environment.
● After
incidents such as Chernobyl and the Fukushima disaster, countries such as
Germany began to undergo a nuclear phase out, shutting down their nuclear
energy units.
2. Health risks:
● Nuclear
power generation is fraught with ionizing
radiation, an invisible poison, which is unsafe in all doses, however small.
Radiation causes cancers and genetic damage.
● Nuclear
plants expose not just occupational workers, but also the general public, to
radioactive hazards in numerous ways.
3. Nuclear waste:
● Nuclear
power generation is not as clean as it is often considered. This is
demonstrated in the case of Kudankulam. People have been protesting for decades
as they worry that the hot water dispatched from the plant will affect the marine life of the
surrounding water sources and subsequently their livelihood.
4. Displacement:
● To
build nuclear reactors, it requires huge amounts of land. This would displace
local communities who may not want to leave.
● Further,
it is not easy to rehabilitate them and provide them with appropriate
compensation.
Nuclear
power can help to improve energy
security. For a rapidly developing economy such as India, it can make a
vitally important contribution to growth. Besides, nuclear power can also reduce the impact of volatile fossil fuel
prices and mitigate the effects of climate change. India needs to come up
with a durable energy strategy to meet present and future energy demands of its
population and industries.