`We'll invite foreign firms to set up larger units on a build, operate, transfer and go basis'

There is a dream-like quality to the nuclear reality principle as espoused by Vijay Kumar Chaturvedi, Executive Director of Kudankulam Atomic Power Station (KK) project and project director of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS), units 3 & 4, who took over as Chairperson and Managing Director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) on August 1.

With 35 years of experience in the field, Chaturvedi is at home in construction, execution and maintenance of the indigenised versions of the four nuclear `Vedic' technologies that India has embarked upon, and is now comfortable with, in the power sector the boiling water reactor (BWR) technology (Tarapur), pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) technology (12 units in operation with two, RAPS 4 and Kaiga 2 to join the grid within months), pressurised (light) water reactor (PWR) technology (the two 1,000-Mwe units coming up at Kudankulam are more commonly termed as VVER in Russian nomenclature) and the fast breeder reactor (FBR) technology, a 500 Mwe prototype (PFBR) of which is coming up at Kalpakkam.

Big-boned at 192 cms, with a wide chest and a wider midriff, Chaturvedi gives the impression of one who lives and breathes nuclear power. Belying his girth and the jovial epicurean exterior is the worker's profile that's more at home in nuclear overalls in the reactor vault. A product of the 9th batch of the training school of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), 57-year-old Chaturvedi is a continuing expression of the paradox of the ``nuclear dream'' that has come to be associated with the Indian nuclear power sector, flowing from Dr R Chidambaram, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Chairman Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) through the former NPCIL CMD Dr Y.S.R. Prasad. His pet theme is the doubling of power production in seven years. ``By the end of this year, including RAPS 4 and Kaiga 2, we would be producing 2,800 Mwe of power. By 2007, we would be doubling production to around 6,000 Mwe. By 2021, we would have crossed the target of 20,000 Mwe,'' he said.

Unbridled optimism, perhaps? This means adding approximately 1,000 Mwe to the power grid every year from 2007 onwards, and 2,000 Mwe every year from 2012 onwards. At current prices, to produce 1 Mwe of nuclear electricity costs Rs 5.5 crore. With 500 Mwe coming from the PFBR coming up at Kalpakkam, two 500 Mwe units at Tarapur and two 1,000 Mwe units at Kudankulam, the target of 6,000 Mwe by 2007 looks feasible. Given the resource crunch, the prospect of raising Rs 5,000 crore every year to add 1,000 Mwe to the grid from 2007 looks bleak, but Chaturvedi talks of economies of scale.

``It takes the same time for me to build a 1,000 Mwe or a 500 Mwe capacity reactor as it takes to build a 220 Mwe reactor. So I would opt for either a 500 or a 1,000 Mwe unit. I need to sell 7,000 Mwe of power to make enough to add 500 Mwe every year to the grid from NPCIL's own funds. I'll borrow the money needed for the other 500 Mwe from the market,'' Chaturvedi explained.

Last year, NPCIL's profits added up to around Rs 600 crore. At present, its own component to finance new projects is marginal, because apart from servicing past debts, the corporation has started re-paying debts that it has been incurring since 1987. Currently, the ratio of government funding to borrowing is 1:1.

``By 2007, we would be doing away with government funding altogether,'' Chaturvedi said, adding, ``The Kudankulam units alone would be making a profit of around Rs 1,500 crore per year.''

A proposal to set up a subsidiary company to handle the Kudankulam units and possibly another to handle the FBRs is also under consideration. ``The NPCIL would continue to be the parent company,'' Chaturvedi clarified, ``with the NPCIL CMD continuing to be the chief of the subsidiaries too.''

While future 1,000 Mwe PWR units would be imported unlike the indigenised 500 Mwe capacity PHWRs, said Chaturvedi. ``We will invite foreign companies to set up larger units on a BOT basis - build, operate, transfer and go. It is not that we can't build 1,000 Mwe units. We would have to invest huge amounts to set up facilities like a forging shop. We cannot economically build the steam turbine generators and pressure valves of that capacity. Fuel we will fabricate at the National Fuel Complex at Hyderabad even for the 1,000 Mwe PWRs but we'll get the basic fuel enriched uranium oxide in powder from the suppliers,'' Chaturvedi explained.

To offset a future sanctions threat that might block supply of the enriched uranium, Chaturvedi said the policy was to have on hand a fuel supply for five years, by which time alternative fuel sources could be worked out. In any case, once the indigenously developed FBR technology using thorium resources comes into its own, the fuel problem will cease to exist. ``By 2015, we will stop construction of PHWRs and PWRs altogether. The future of Indian nuclear power rests in our thorium reserves and the FBR technology,'' Chaturvedi said.

He scoffed at fears that the Russian VVERs might not be safe. After Chernobyl, he said, the USA, Britain, France and Germany had suggested 35 improvements to the Russian reactor design, which the Russians incorporated. The VVERs are the latest in the evolutionary designs that anticipate the worst accident scenario.

The main challenge is to create trained personnel to meet the needs of the expanding network. ``We have created 8,000 in 30 years, the challenge is to create 4,000 more in 5 years," Chaturvedi said.

Chaturvedi's term will expire in January 2003, likely to be extended by two years if his health permits. Chaturvedi suffers from problems of high blood pressure. With the plant load factor crossing the 80 per cent mark, he is determined to take efficiency to its peak. ``Beyond a threshold, every system needs to be changed,'' he declared.

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