NEW DELHI, MAY 7:With Left allies blocking Government moves to secure the India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the uncertainty over the Indo-US nuclear deal has begun impacting the country’s nuclear power plants. Fuel shortage has forced the Nuclear Power Corporation to delay commissioning of two new units at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS).

The two new units — RAPS 5 and 6 of 220 MWe each — were to be commissioned by February this year (RAPS 5 in August 2007 and RAPS 6 in February 2008).

At a meeting last month to discuss the status of all power units in the north, official records show that NPCIL has admitted that these units are “delayed due to fuel problems”.

When contacted, NPCIL officials conceded that given the fuel shortage situation “there was no point in hurrying up work on these units” and added that it was a policy of the company to go slow on the units.

The officials told The Indian Express that fuel shortage has already forced nuclear power units to cut production levels from an average 80 per cent PLF (plant load factor) a couple of years ago to an average 40-50 per cent PLF.

Given the limited quantum of fuel available and fresh supplies slow to come, NPCIL has already put in place a plan to advance the routine upkeep of its power plants and thereby buy time until fresh supplies are made available. The nuclear deal, once clinched, would give access to supplies from other countries.

Consider this. From mid-December 2007 to February 2008, both nuclear power units at Narora in Uttar Pradesh (NAPS) were shut. While unit 1 of 220 MWe was shut in October 2005 and brought back to life in February 2008 after nearly 16 months, unit 2 (again 220 MWe) was shut in mid-December 2007 for maintenance and is expected to be operational after 14-18 months.

NPCIL officials, however, said that this planned shutdown was on the “instructions of the (atomic) regulatory commission” that decides when the nuclear plant is due for upkeep.

Last week while replying to a question in the Parliament on whether the country’s atomic power plants were facing a fuel shortage, Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan said that out of the total installed capacity of 4120 MWe, unit 1 and 2 of Tarapur (amounting to 320 MWe) “use imported uranium for which fuel is available”.

But Chavan then said the balance 3800 MWe (units in Tarapur, Rajasthan, Madras, Narora, Kakrapar and Kaiga) use “indigenous natural uranium, of which there is a mismatch in demand and supply. This capacity is thus being operated at a lower power level matching the fuel supply”.

He said “all out efforts have been made by the government to augment fuel supply to increase the production by opening of new (domestic) mines and augmenting processing facilities”.

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