CHENNAI: India and Russia can cooperate in building small floating reactors with the latter providing the nuclear heart (reactor) and the former taking care of the tow boat and electrical systems, said a top official of Rosatom.
Rosatom could offer the nuclear heart or the nuclear core (reactor) and other systems while India can take care of the tow boat and the electrical systems needed for the floating nuclear power station.
This format could be used, said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom).
Likahachev was answering a question raised by Venkatesh Varma, former Ambassador of India to Russia at the ninth edition of the International Forum ‘Primakov Readings’ held in Moscow. Varma had asked about the small modular reactors for developing countries like India and whether Rosatom is prepared to provide an export version of this small modular reactors.
Interestingly, India and the US in July this year had agreed to work on the development of next generation small modular reactor technologies for domestic and export markets.
In the nuclear power field, small modular reactors are the new development.
Small modular reactors are the ones which are factory-made compact with less than 300 MW capacity. Incidentally, the world’s first land-based small modular reactor (SMR) with RITM-200N is slated to be commissioned in 2028 in the Russian Arctic region.
It would be very strange if our Indian friends were offered to build, let’s say, the seventh unit of Kudankulam with a capacity of 100 MW.
Since there is a power grid, consumption is growing. Where there is a network and concentration of large consumers, one needs to build units with capacity like 1,000-1,500 or 800 MW, Likhachev said.
“In remote areas where there is no grid, but consumption is concentrated at 50, 60, 100 and 120 MW, that is where the solution of small modular reactors is needed. Plus, for newcomers (and India is certainly not a newcomer in this respect), it is very important to minimise the infrastructure,” he added. According to Likhachev, for such locations, Rosatom could offer a floating nuclear power plant which is fixed on the shore and one need not build either a powerful physical protection or the appropriate facilities for storing nuclear fuel. (IANS)
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