The criticality of Tarapur atomic power station’s unit III recently marked a milestone in the country’s nuclear ambitions of producing 40,000 MW by 2030.
The criticality of Tarapur atomic power station’s unit III recently marked a milestone in the country’s nuclear ambitions of producing 40,000 MW by 2030. But what will happen to the used fuel once Tarapur’s third unit of 540 MW begins commercial operations in a month’s time?
Fuel from the first two units at Tarapur has already been the source of much diplomatic strain between India and the US. The two 160 MW units, which have been built by an American company, GE, haven’t been permitted to reprocess the spent fuel yet.
The used fuel from these units is currently stored in the complex under camera scrutiny and periodic inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency, the global watchdog. “For long, India has been demanding that the US take away this fuel if it doesn’t want us to touch it, but there has been no headway,” said a senior official.
The fate of spent fuel from the third and fourth units is uncertain. Reprocessing nuclear fuel would take away much of its radioactivity and reduce the volume of the fuel.
It is not clear if the spent fuel from Tarapur’s unit III and IV would be reprocessed, said an official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, which runs nuclear power plants in the country. While the fourth unit began generation a year ago, the third one is expected to produce power by July this year.
“The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has perfected the art of reprocessing and is the sole authority for the purpose,” said former secretary of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) KS Parthasarathy.
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