Can I repeat my 42 years in DAE?
If the theory of rebirth is true, then I will like to repeat those wonderful 42 years for my second “innings”. The reasons are many and some are brought out in this write up. I joined Cirus reactor after finishing my 4th batch of training school. The foundation for my career was built during my one year in Training School and nearly four years each in Cirus and Canada. I read, by a quick calculation, almost five times during these 8 years than the seventeen years I spent during my educational period. Majority of credit to the environment and not to me. Just one example. On my second day at Cirus, my immediate boss told me that there is a problem in the Water Treatment Plant and I must solve it. I spent almost 20 hours each in the next two days. By then some others solved the problem. The point to be seen is, a unit like Cirus will definitely have many experts to solve such problem and what was done was to motivate me and make me feel I am important. This was the trend set by Dr Bhabha. The character, culture, determination, innovativeness, patriotism, self-reliance, never say die approach, human touch that is cultivated in the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is all inherited from one great man, Homi Jehangir Bhabha. Dr Bhabha was a multifaceted personality. It is a standing testimony to the uniqueness of Homi Bhabha, for whom science, engineering, music and art were all equally important. In fact, he excelled in the first three fields in equal measure and a great lover of the fourth. So were the handful of leaders that followed him. In fact, Dr Kalam used to play Veena during his spare time. These are the ones who built and nourished such wonderful culture. Later I have brought out that multiple activities, in addition to being knowledgeable, makes one a good manager. When one enters BARC or TIFR, the faces of the staff inside them exude a certain intensity and passion needed to achieve excellence. Landscaping and housekeeping, often neglected, are important inputs to the efficiency in achieving the objectives of the occupiers in them.
The main question that Mr. V.T Krishnan asked me in my training school interview was whether I play cricket and how I maintained team work, address conflict management etc. After getting approval from Dr M.R. Srinivasan, I started a Badminton tournament within NPCIL which was followed by DAE tournaments later. These improve the efficiency of staff. Cirus is the grand parent of our reactors with RAPS and TAPS as parents. Even before anything was started in DAE, Dr Bhabha presented the three-stage plan (was it a coincidence that the registration number Dr Bhabha’s car was BMY 3333! And is the 4th three for additionality through imports?), in November 1954. It his vision that no change was required as it is tailor made for Indian requirements.
There is criticism that we are neglecting his program by imports. Even he imported TAPS to give a jump start. The present imports are additionalities and PHWRs and Fast Breeders will remain the sheet anchors of our plan. People ask why “untested” reactors are being imported? There is a limit to the level of safety that can be achieved by evolution alone and innovation (such as Passive systems, Accident Tolerant Fuel) is required to achieve the objectives of Generation 3,3+ and IV reactors. AHWR possess these innovations.
Now let us see a little bit of the success story of Nuclear Power Corporation and how it was achieved against all odds. Nuclear power was born in early 1970s in India. But soon we ran into a difficult period. The 1974 nuclear explosion brought in an embargo when both the Rajasthan and Tarapur Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) were in their infancies. Indigenisation was always in the mind of Dr Bhabha and his three-stage program is tailored for it. After India exploded the nuclear bomb in 1974, Indigenisation picked up as there was no other alternative with embargo on. Necessity is the mother of invention. At the time of country’s independence in 1947 and for several years thereafter, the industry’s capability was limited to manufacturing and supply of equipment for cement and sugar industries. By 1974, things had improved but not adequately enough to serve the nuclear industry. However, we sensed that we can win with what is available and we did win. This victory was due to never say die spirit and determination of DAE staff, Innovativeness of many Indians, strong political support, ever fighting manufacturers and constructors and public support. Who says there is no excellence in India? There are pockets of excellence in our country, and this is what we tapped. Once the contract is made for making new equipment for the first time, the barriers between the purchasers and vendor vanished and everybody worked together. This has been a great learning and achieving experience. So, there is a certain degree of national competence, which is source of great strength and which helped us to win. Later we became a Corporation from a Government department and realised that this was not a cosmetic change. We have to become Managers from scientists, develop financial acumen and commercial culture, defeat pitfalls of public sector companies and develop modern management practices within the framework of public sector procedures. As is the practice when Chairmen visited RAPS, we had kept several technical presentations ready when Dr Sarabhai came. He first met all the housewives, heard their problems, told us that he will get them solved and then asked when we will make the reactor critical!! We imbibed all these and what was the result? We make the cheapest, reliable, viable, safe and secure NPPs. We achieved excellence in operating NPPs. One of our NPPS, at Kaiga, Karnataka, beat the then world record of operating 962 days continuously. There were 35 runs of more than one year in the 23 NPPs that are operating now. Our NPPs, fondly called INDUs as against CANDUs (Canadian Deuterium Reactors), have been operating as per international bench marks with respect to performance, safety and nuclear security. We were even leaders, example, we prepared Emergency operating procedures in 1978 and the world followed in 1979 after TMI accident. The Radiation dose to Public around all our NPPs adds less than 1% to the natural background which the public will get anyway, nuclear or no nuclear. Realising that for meeting our Nationally Determined Commitment (NDC), under climate change, of phasing out fossil fuel by 2070, nuclear is inevitable, the country wants NPCIL to build 21 more NPPs by 2031, in fleet mode. Nuclear being the only bulk green energy, its operation in a hybrid manner in the grids with Renewables (which is rightly being given a big push) is a must. I am sure NPCIL will achieve this target. NPCIL is ready for industry 4.0.
There were many turning points in our nuclear power program. I would like to mention a few of them.
(a) Nuclear deal;
Nuclear deal was not arrived at overnight. Discussions on Indo-US nuclear deal commenced in late 1990s. India steadfastly stuck to their prime stand which they had maintained for more than three decades. This stand was continued until the deal was stuck. We must also be thankful to the US. The deal, followed by NSG waiver, has taken out Uranium availability as a constraint. The average capacity factor of our NPPs went up from 50% to around 80% with imported Uranium. While we could import the Russian VVERs, we could not do so with AP 1000 and EPR due to problems of theirs as well as commercial agreement issues. In my opinion, the cost consideration for import of initial nuclear power plants should not be over-emphasised. Cost of subsequent units comes down, with 4th unit costing 50 % of first unit. If we can do localisation, third party contribution (As being done by our companies for the Bangladesh VVER) or better still get licence to sell them, ultimately, cost gets amortised and pay us back handsomely. India cannot be easily kept out from taking part in Global renaissance, which is here to stay due to climate change and unfortunate Ukraine war. This does not mean that we agree for any cost. Good commercial discussions are required, but should be time bound.
(b) standardizing commenced from Narora NPP;
Success story of Indian PHWRs followed after we started churning out standardized units starting from the Narora NPPs. Globally also it is seen that standardizing is done after the third or fourth sets of NPPs. The strength of NAPS design was vindicated by its resilience of being able to be restarted after the devastating fire incident and running very well after that. Hence NAPS can be called “Chacha” of our program.
(c) Establishing 700 Mwe units followed by fleet mode construction;
The 700 Mwe units (recognized as Generation 3+ design) solves the problem of increasing the nuclear share in our energy mix per unit installed. It will soon be standardized. A great turning point is, going on fleet mode from the on/off type followed earlier. Fleet mode has several advantages.
RAPP site, the largest nuclear island in the world, with 8 units, including two 700 Mwe units.
How many countries have entered Mars orbit in the first attempt? None except India. So, is that not a matter of pride? DAE has similar achievements. These are islands of excellence in India. Who do not want to work with such an organisation?
About the Author
G.R. Srinivasan
He has more than five decades of experience in the nuclear industry. The last three positions he held are as follows.
(i) Director (Projects), NPCIL,
(ii) Vice-Chairman, AERB and
(iii) Advisor, Nuclear Power Business, GMR Infra.