India to build nuclear plants in middle of city

Right in the city's heart.

Scientists believe it is actually a good location for nuclear reactors. 

In fact, several built-in safety features are being designed by scientists that would allow nuclear power plants to be located even in densely populated areas.

The much-delayed 300 MW Advanced Heavy Water Reactor has been on the design table for nearly a decade, but now construction is being targetted within the next five years.

The AHWR, which uses thorium as fuel, is designed by a team of nuclear scientists led by former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar and incumbent Ratan Kumar Sinha. 

"The AHWR has a number of in-built safety features that would require very little exclusion zone and can be built right in the heart of the city," said Shiv Abhilash Bhardwaj, Director (Technical) of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited.

The safety features in its design would enable meeting next generation safety requirements such as three days grace period for operator response, elimination of the need for exclusion zone beyond the plant boundary, hundred year design life and high level of fault tolerance, officials said.

The AHWR also has high level of fault tolerance and provides for a much greater immunity even from insider threat.

A site for building the AHWR is yet to be finalised. The AHWR uses thorium as fuel.

The AHWR is also expected to ease the land acquisition worries of the nuclear establishment as the reactor may not require any exclusion zone beyond the plant boundary.

In conventional nuclear plants, the exclusion zone extends to 1.6 km radius from the reactor, which is followed by a sterilised zone which extends upto five km from the reactor and an emergency planning zone which is the area in a radius of 16 km from the reactor.

A typical nuclear power plant requires acquisition of 600 acres of land, most of which forms the exclusion zone.

But land acquisition for nuclear reactors has run into protests in Haryana, Maharashtra and West Bengal and the AHWR may allow the nuclear establishment some flexibility in handling the vexed issue.

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