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An idea for enabling “tens of thousands of micro nuclear reactors”, of capacities like 2 MW or 5 MW, producing electricity at around ₹2.5 a kWhr, has started making rounds as a whisper-in-the-corridor among scientists and policy makers.
Recently, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, the septuagenarian President of IIT Madras Research Park, which is an IIT-Madras-mentored incubation centre, held a “brain-storming session” with several scientists, to discuss the idea. Those present included Anil Kakodkar, one of India’s most renowned nuclear scientists, Arun Kumar Nayak, Head of Nuclear Control and Planning Wing, Department of Atomic Energy and several professors from institutions such as IIT Madras and IIT Jammu.
For some time, the world has been talking about ‘small modular reactors’, of around 100 MW or less, but the idea ‘micro reactors’ takes this much further.
The purpose of the brainstorming session was to develop a framework—details to be filled in over the next three months—for ‘micro modular nuclear reactors’ of sizes that can be put up on the premises of educational institutions or basements of residential condominiums. The session discussed issues such as safety, type of reactors, type of fuel, coolants, land requirement, reprocessing and waste disposal, regulations and applications.
At the end of the session, the group concluded that ‘micro nuclear reactors’ is not an outlandish idea—it is doable. Experts mentioned that Westinghouse has designed an eVinci micro reactor, of 13 MW (thermal) capacity. (The Russian company, Rosatom, intends to build 10 MWe ‘SHELF-M’ reactors by 2030.) It was also mentioned that such reactors are also being discussed in the Department of Atomic Energy. But India should have a micro modular nuclear reactor of its own, designed for and made in India.
Making MMNRs work
Kakodkar, who was the principal thought-leader during the discussion, said at the outset that if you go to the regulator and ask him to write regulations for micro nuclear reactors, the regulator will say, “what is your design?” But the designer would first want to know what the regulations are — a catch-22 situation. Therefore, the reactor should be designed in such a way that it conforms to the existing regulations.
Having said that the top priority should be for fool-proof safety — it should shut down on its own in case of any radiation leak, without any human intervention. There must be no heating up of the reactor core. Such reactors are called ‘walk away safe’ reactors—they are capable of cooling themselves, and, if the cooling system fails, they can be cooled by ambient air. Further, it should be possible for the reactor operator to close it down (say) for the night and go home.
Secondly, all the fuel should come from and the spent fuel should go back to, the Department of Atomic Energy. Transporting fuels was not believed to be an insurmountable problem.
Third, Kakodkar stressed that the reactor should be a high-temperature reactor, for the sake of higher efficiency. This, in turn, ruled out metals for making the reactors, as metals would melt. Instead, ceramics should come into play.
Then, how big may the reactor be? The suggestion was for a 5 MWe reactor, 3-metre-tall and 2-meter diameter, capable of being transported in a shipping container. The suggestion for the fuel was for 19.75 per cent enriched uranium (2.7 tonnes of Uranium Oxide containing 540 tonnes of U-235), which would require refuelling after 15 years.
As for the costs, Dr Jhunjhunwala set a ‘target’ of ₹1.71 per kWhr as the ‘capex cost’; along with the operating costs, the total cost of energy produced should be around ₹2.5 a kWhr.
Nayak mentioned that there have been some informal conversations have happened with manufacturers like L&T and users like the steel industry, for small modular reactors (SMRs).
L&T has said it can produce SMRs; steel manufacturers, Nayak said, were interested in having several hundred reactors to produce hydrogen, to replace coke, in steel making.
Prof Sreenivas Jayanthi of IIT Madras said that the reactors should be made ASAP – with the ‘S’ standing for ‘soon’, ‘simple’, ‘safe’ and ‘self-regulating’. “We should be able to make it happen in five years,” he said.
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