Madras HC gives go ahead to Kudankulam power project

The Madras High Court today gave its nod to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, clearing the decks for the fuel loading and commissioning of unit 1 of the controversy-hit Indo-Russian project.

A file photo of the two reactors of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant at Tirunelveli district.

Dismissing a batch of petitions challenging commissioning of units 1 and 2 of KNPP, a Division Bench comprising Justices P. Jyothimani and M. Duraiswamy said the project did not suffer from any infirmity for want of any clearance from any authorities. “There is absolutely no impediment to proceed in units 1 and 2 of KNPP,” the Bench said in its order, which was keenly awaited for loading the real fuel in the 1,000 MW unit 1.

The court also said the Centre and Tamil Nadu government shall oversee the plant continuously and take steps to protect the interests of the people and fishermen in the area. Besides undertaking awareness schemes, the state government should establish a multi-speciality hospital and schools with hostel facilities for locals and children, give financial assistance for the fishermen in the area to have mechanised boats and provide port and cold storage facilities to store fish catch.

The Collector of Tirunelveli, the district in which plant is situated, should ensure offshore safety drills regularly involving the public, it said. Another Bench comprising Justices P. Jyothimani and P. Devadoss dismissed a petition challenging the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)’s clearance for loading real fuel in the plant.

The Bench said, “It is not for the court to suspect the statutory authorities, until a classic case is made out...the court does not have expertise to suspect the statutory authorities’ opinion.” It also said that all the 17 safety recommendations made by the Task Force should be implemented as committed and the “nuclear loading can go ahead.”

The AERB had recently given its approval for loading the real fuel in the first reactor of the plant, taking the project a step closer to commissioning.

The commissioning of the first of the 2x1,000 MW units of the Indo-Russian project was slated for December last year, but protests by local people on grounds of safety concerns delayed it.

Reacting to the verdict, People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy convenor S.P. Udayakumar, spearheading the protest, said, “It is one-sided and against the people, who are struggling for the past one year in a democratic way.

Injustice has been done and we will appeal in the Supreme Court.”

Kerala entitled to 266 MW power from Kudankulam

Union minister of state for energy K C Venugopal said here on Monday that the Centre had not taken any decision to review the originally agreed formula on sharing power from Kudankulam nuclear power station.

Venugopal was responding questions on the reported statement of Tamil Nadu chief ministerJayalalithaa that her state wanted the entire power generated at Kudankulam.

He said there was a clear formula on sharing power from thermal and nuclear stations in different parts of the country, and that an agreement on this is reached at the time of setting up the plants.

Accordingly, the home state will get 50 per cent of the power generated. Thirty five per cent of the remaining power will be shared between neighbouring states in accordance with their per capita power consumption. The remaining 15 per cent will be added to the Central pool as "unallocated power". According to this formula, Kerala is entitled to 266mw of power from Kudankulam, Venugopal said.

The minister also said the Centre was supporting Kerala in tiding over the present power crisis and had allocated 100 mw of power in the last four days in addition to the regular allocation.

He said studies had indicated that Kerala would face a demand-supply gap of 48,000mw in 2016. During the 11th Five Year Plan, the country as a whole had added a capacity of 55,000mw, and Kerala's contribution to this was only 100mw. The country proposed to add 75,000mw generating capacity during the 12th Plan period and Kerala's share in this would be nil, he said.

The state could face acute power crisis unless a political consensus is evolved on the choice of energy required. Kerala should vigorously pursue mini and micro hydel power generation possibilities as well as renewable energy.

The Centre has initiated measures to eliminate excise duty on naphtha and this might reduce the cost of power from Kayamkulam thermal power station at least by Rs 1.5 per unit, the minister said.

NTPC to supply 250 MW power to Bangladesh

The country’s largest electricity producer NTPC will supply 250 MW power to Bangladesh, a move that will help strengthen trade ties between the two nations.
NTPC will export 250 MW power to Bangladesh from the unallocated quota available with the Power Ministry, according to a company official.
A power purchase agreement was inked between NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTPC, and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) on Tuesday.

What's really wrong with nuclear?

As we approach the 12 month anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, it’s worth reflecting on the potential future role of nuclear power in this country. In spite of this disaster the Australian Government was brave enough to suggest nuclear power as a back-up plan in the Energy White Paper. While I’m very optimistic about renewables in combination with energy efficiency, I’m also keen on a back-up plan given the threat of global warming.

The kind of temperature changes expected as a result of global warming have occurred in the past due to natural causes. The problem is they involved very nasty things called mass extinctions.

That’s why I like anything that has a demonstrated track record of significantly reducing emissions. It’s why I like compact flourescent light bulbs, solar hot water, wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels. Heck I even like pink batts. After all pink batts don't spontaneously combust, they were put alight by highly inefficient, poorly installed halogen downlights.

All of these things definitely work, and I can see first-hand evidence of them delivering rather than promising to deliver.

It’s also why I like nuclear power. Nuclear power generated a little over 13 per cent of the world's electricity in 2010. It has a horrible track record of meeting construction timetables and budgets, but it can definitely supply large quantities of electricity with low emissions. It has achieved this while resulting in significantly less deaths than coal use, a major plus in my book in spite of Fukushima. I worry that Japan and Germany, with their nuclear phase-outs, will instead revert to fossil-fuels rather than renewables, which is exactly what Japan is doing right now.

For a geologically and politically stable country like Australia, nuclear power could be a good option for us to reduce carbon emissions while meeting the essential need for large quantities of electricity.

The one problem with nuclear power is its advocates.

Why?

Nuclear supporters push the deluded idea that nuclear will be viable without the need for a strong carbon price.

Many of those who back nuclear power are often the same people suggesting that Australia should not be imposing a price on carbon emissions. They seem to suggest that nuclear is a costless fix.

When you dig into the assumptions behind these claims of a costless fix you quickly find a range of clever accounting tricks as well as plain nonsense.

Advocates who try to use nuclear as an excuse to not price carbon will often adopt an incredibly unrealistic interest rate on financing, such as 5 per cent. No company can raise debt or equity finance to build a power station at 5 per cent return, unless perhaps they’re a state-owned enterprise in China or France.

Their second trick is to assume short construction times for nuclear plants that bear no relationship to experience. The World Nuclear Association, for example, will uncritically print claims by power plant vendors of construction taking 36 months. Yet most of the plants built in the western world took over 90 months to build according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

They will then claim that these construction delay problems have been fixed with new ‘Generation 3’ designs. Finland was the first Western country to order a generation 3 reactor, the Olkiluoto-3 unit. The project, which began in early 2005, was reported in 2010 as running €1.7 billion over budget and up to four years late. The other example is the Flamanville-3 project in France, which began in 2007 and was planned to be complete in 2012 at a cost of €3.55 billion. Since then the completion date has slipped to 2016 and the capital cost has been revised up three times. It is now expected to cost about €6 billion.

If you adopt realistic assumptions in accordance with past experience (as opposed to nuclear vendor promises they won’t put in a contract), nuclear could potentially be competitive against wind power in this country. But it will need a very strong carbon price of $60tCO2 or more to be competitive with fossil fuels.

Nuclear advocates argue against efforts to deploy renewable energy based on an excessively simplistic view of how we maintain electricity reliability.

If you were to believe nuclear advocates, if a power plant’s output were to drop-off then the lights would go out. Apparently each individual power plant must produce 100 per cent of the time.

But variability is an inherent feature of electricity systems that means we are already well-equipped to manage wind and solar power. Demand is not constant and can vary quite substantially from day-to-day and hour-to-hour, requiring flexibility from our power plants. Power stations and power lines can also fail unexpectedly. As a result, electricity systems already have a large amount of power generating capacity laying idle for much of the year which can be rapidly ramped-up and down to help accommodate wind and solar power. The idea that we need one new fossil fuel plant to back-up each renewable power plant is nonsense.

Nuclear advocates, rather than acknowledging problems with nuclear power, explain them away with reference to technologies that aren’t commercially available.

On the fact that the plants come in one size – bloody big and hard to swallow – they invoke such things as pebble-bed modular reactors or generation IV designs that will come in nice modular small-scale plants. But the only place these things exist is engineers’ drawing pad and experimental test plants. Not a single reputable nuclear power plant vendor could even quote you a price on such a plant.

In relation to the issues of uranium supplies being limited and the problem of long-term radioactive waste, they cite that this will be fixed through breeder reactors or the use of thorium. One problem – efforts to develop breeder reactors have been beset with problems and none are operating commercially.

Most importantly many nuclear advocates just don’t believe global warming is a problem.

Several nuclear advocates in Australia have regularly called into question whether global warming is real or even a problem. This makes me nervous that they aren’t advocating for nuclear because they see it as a viable and necessary option for reducing Australia’s carbon emissions. Rather they may be using it as a smokescreen to undermine other more readily implemented means of cutting emissions.

The majority of Australians are opposed to the use of nuclear power in this country. We might like to assume this away but it’s a political reality that makes nuclear power impractical for reducing Australia’s emissions for at least the next two decades. We can’t just twiddle our thumbs while we hope for public opinion to change.

Nuclear power should be key to India's energy mix: Energy experts

Nuclear energy should be an integral part of the energy mix that India can bank on to bridge the huge gap between the current and targeted per capita electricity consumption, according to nuclear scientists and energy experts attending a seminar on nuclear power held at the National Institute of Technology Calicut (NIT-C) here on Friday.

Speaking at the National Science Day seminar, A K Balasubramanian, chief engineer, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said, "Nuclear power will have to be an integral part of our energy options as we have to increase the installed power generation capacity manifold to bring up the per capita consumption near world average."

K V Gopidas, additional chief engineer, Kudankulam nuclear power plant, said that the plant incorporates robust design features with multiple levels of safety systems in place to withstand external events such as earthquakes and tsunami. "Kudankulam plant is an advanced, Generation III+ plant with most modern safety features which provide high degree of assurance to prevent Fukushima type accidents," he said.

Social activist and writer C R Neelakantan, presenting his arguments against the establishment of nuclear power plants, said that India had failed to develop any indigenous technology for establishing nuclear plants after more than three decades of nuclear research.

"There is no feasible technology for disposing nuclear waste which will stay active for millions of years," he said. The installed power generation capacity has to be increased manifold to bring up the per capita consumption near world average, say experts

Nuclear Energy Education Meet in Madurai from March 2

Nuclear Energy Education Meet (NEEM-2012), a two-day awareness event wherein nuclear technology experts would participate, is being organised in Madurai on March 2 and 3.

Velammal College of Engineering and Technology is hosting the meet in association with Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to provide factual information to students, youth and general public about safety of nuclear power.

“Due to some confusion and lack of facts prevailing about nuclear power, NEEM-2012 is aimed at disseminating clear and factual information about the advantages of nuclear power and its safety in a State where power generation from other natural resources seem to be unviable,” N. Suresh Kumar, Principal of the college, said in a press release issued here on Wednesday.

Interactive sessions with nuclear technology experts, exhibition on nuclear technology models/posters besides competitions for students of colleges and schools will be held. “In the present day scenario of extreme power shortage where industries, agriculturists and common people in Tamil Nadu have been experiencing unprecedented frustration and discomfort, we are in a situation which can be described aptly as having a bird in hand but we are hunting for more in the bush,” he said.

Nalco to invest Rs 900 cr in nuclear power biz by 2012-13

The State-owned aluminium major NALCO plans to spend Rs 900 crore by next fiscal on nuclear power ventures, for which it had signed a joint-venture agreement with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) in November.

As per the plan, the investments will be made on unit 3 and 4 of Kakarapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Gujarat, a senior company official said, adding that both the units are of 700 MW each.

The official further said that “NALCO would be investing Rs 300 crore in the current quarter on the project, in lieu of its 26 per cent stake, while rest of the money will be invested in next fiscal“.

Both the units of KAPS entail a total investment of Rs 7,000 crore and are planned to be commissioned by 2015.

The company, which currently has the permission of having only 26 per cent stake in nuclear power ventures, is talking to the government for increasing the limit to 49 per cent, the official added.

In case of increase in its stake, the aluminium major would invest more money on the developments of both the units of KAPS, the official said.

Venturing into the nuclear power sector is part of NALCO’s future growth plans, under which it aims become a diversified metals, mining and power producing company, with an estimated turnover of over Rs 25,000 crore by 2020.

As per the plan, the company would venture into power sector as an independent producer and once the generation capacity goes up substantially, the business will be hived off into a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The aluminium major produces about 1,200 MW for captive uses and has been planning to bid for upcoming ultra mega power projects.

The company had also announced to set up a 50 MW wind mill in Andhra Pradesh for about Rs 274 crore. Besides, it is also looking to diversify into other metal segments like copper and uranium.

Last year, the company completed second phase of its expansion at an investment of Rs 4,402 crore. Post expansion, NALCO has an alumina refinery capacity of 2.1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and an aluminium smelter of 4.6 MTPA. It also has bauxite mining capacity of 6.3 MT.

India scouting for sites to store nuclear waste

 In a first initiative of its kind, India has begun scouting for deep underground sites to store for several decades the nuclear waste generated from its burgeoning atomic power programme. As a first step, the Department of Atomic Energy will set up an underground laboratory in one of its uranium mines to study qualities of the rock at the mine bottom to decide whether it can be used to store nuclear waste.

"We are looking for a rock formation that is geologically stable, totally impervious and without any fissures,"Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Banerjee told reporters here.

He said the DAE plans to set up the underground facility during the 12th Plan Period for studying the Deep Geological Repository to store the high level nuclear waste.

The site should not have experienced any event in recorded history and should have a cooling mechanism using air draft as the nuclear waste would generate decay heat, which has to be removed.

However, as Indian atomic programme is committed to follow the closed fuel cycle the final nuclear waste may not have long half-life as is the case with some other countries. Currently, the Solid Storage Surveillance Facility at Tarapur near Mumbai is used to store the high-level waste after being immobilised in glass-matrix by a process called vitrification.

The low and intermediate level radioactive wastes generated during a nuclear fuel cycle are treated in an eco-friendly way. "The facility at Tarapur has an area equivalent to one- fourth of a football ground. This is sufficient to store vitrified waste from two 540 MWe reactors during their full life of 40 years," R K Sinha, director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, said.

The Tarapur facility, designed and constructed indigenously, has 1,800 silos for storage of double-walled canisters containing radioactive waste. This waste will remain in the facility for 30 years after which it would be transferred to the deep geological repository, Sinha said, adding that a similar facility is also being planned at Kalpakkam.

'N-energy vital for India's power production': M R Srinivasan

 Stressing on production of electricity using nuclear energy in India, member of Atomic Energy Commission M R Srinivasan said here on Monday that it is vital for the country to become the third largest economy in the world. Srinivasan was speaking at the Ahmedabad Management Association.

"At the time of independence, the electrical capacity was about 2,000 megawatts, which was about the same as that of China. But the capacity in India in 2012 is 1.6 lakh megawatts against 8 lakh megawatt of China," he said. talking about how India has lagged behind in the area.

"Currently more than half of the electricity in the country is produced using coal as fuel for which we have to import large quantity of coal. Even with hydroelectric power, the government agencies are facing several hurdles," he said.

"The country has made good progress in harnessing wind power. The leading states are Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. But we can't envisage running railways or heavy industries such as fertilizers and automobile on solar and wind power. It is in this context that nuclear power has been looked upon as an important part of the electric supply system for the future," said Srinivasan.

Centre, TN should operationalise Kudankulam: SS Ramasubbu, Tirunelveli MP

The central and Tamil Nadu governments should cooperate in operationalising the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) that has been hit by protests, SS Ramasubbu, the Congress MP from Tirunelveli, says.
"Tamil Nadu, suffering from a severe power deficit, surely needs power from the Kudankulam project and the state government should lend its help in operationalising the plant which is ready for generation," Ramasubbu told a news agency ahead of his party's public rally Saturday to press for the project.

Citing the seven-hour power cut a day in his constituency - KNPP is located in Tirunelveli district - Ramasubbu added: "The power situation would turn acute across the state once the summer season starts." 

He said more than 90 percent of people want the atomic power project to be commissioned at the earliest. 

Asked about Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's charge that the central government has not responded positively to its request for additional power of 1,000 MW, an increase in the supply of kerosene and additional funds, Ramasubbu said: "There should be talks between the central and the state government. Both the governments should cooperate with each other." 

According to him, the protest against the project would fizzle out once the state government takes action on the complaints registered by police against the protestors. 

Top Congress leaders of the Tamil Nadu unit, ministers from the party in the central government and others will gather at Tirunelveli and address a public rally on the need of the Kudankulam project to the state. 

"Three union ministers - GK Vasan, P Chidambaram and V Narayanaswamy - current and former leaders of the Tamil Nadu Congress, Tamil Nadu assembly members and others will participate in the public rally in Tirunelveli Saturday evening to stress the importance of the Kudankulam project for the state," Ramasubbu said. 

According to him, the party expects around 25,000 people to attend the rally. The public meeting comes after a central government expert panel gave a clean chit to the KNPP and the Russian reactors there, terming the arguments, observations, calculations of the anti-nuclear activists as wrong. 

India's nuclear power plant operator, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), is building two 1,000 MW atomic power reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from Chennai. 

Villagers of Kudankulam, Idinthakarai and others fear for their lives and safety in case of any nuclear accident. Their agitation, led by the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), had put a stop to the project work, delaying the commissioning of the first unit slated last December. 

The Tamil Nadu government passed a resolution asking the central government to halt work at the power plant and allay the fears of the local people. To resolve the issue, the central and state governments had set up two panels to allay the fears of the people. 

Ramasubbu blamed the NPCIL for being aloof from the local community surrounding the KNPP. "The company did not communicate with the local populace about the project," he said. 

Expert panel, anti-Kudankulam activists rule out further talks

Efforts to break the logjam over theKudankulam power plant hit a dead end on Tuesday as both the central expert committee and the anti-nuclear activists ruling out any further talks on the Indo-Russian project.

The 15-member expert group, set up by the Centre, stated categorically that it had "conclusively addressed" all safety related issues to allay the fears in the mind of local people living around the plant in coastalKudankulam.

"We have completed our job. We will not be talking to anyone as a committee. We have informed the Atomic Energy Commission chairman," expert group chairman AE Muthunayagam told PTI.

The development came on a day when the fourth round of talks between the expert group and the state government panel failed to take place after representatives of the agitators boycotted it protesting the attack on them allegedly by a Hindu outfit, supporting the project.

"Since the representatives of people in the joint forum are not prepared for any presentation from experts (of central expert group) and discussions, EGfinds that it is not in a position to proceed further," Muthunayagam said in a 70-page supplementary report presented to the district collector.

Giving thumbs up to the project, the EG report said "it meets all current safety requirements and is safe for operation" and slammed the anti-nuclear protesters for 'creating fear' in the minds of public and linking it to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan last year.

SP Udayakumar, Convenor of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, spearheading the five-month long protest, said, "We are not going to engage in talks anymore. Muthunagayam (central) Committee is a farce."

Three rounds of talks held earlier had failed to break the impasse with thePMANE representatives deadset on scrapping the project whose first unit was scheduled to be commissioned in December last but had now been postponed to coming May.

Ahead of today's talks, tension broke out in the Collectorate as the PMANEmembers and Hindu Munnani workers, who gathered there to submit a memorandum to the district collector demanding commissioning of the project, clashed.

The EG, which had earlier presented its findings, submitted a supplementary report stating that KNPP had advanced design safety features and Fukushima type accident would never occur.

"So, creating fear in the minds of public with partial information and selected video clippings on Fukushima is mischievous and not in the interest of the local public and the nation," the report said.

The central group, comprising experts from various fields including oncology, atomic energy and fisheries, was set up at the height of the protests.

India eyes $100 bn foreign investment in nuclear power sector

India is hopeful of getting more than $100 billion worth of foreign investment in the nuclear power sector in the next two decades and a quarter of it would come from France, Commerce and Industry MinisterAnand Sharma has said.

"In the coming two decades, India will see investments in excess of $100 billion in the nuclear power sector alone and I am sure that at least a quarter of these will come from France," Sharma said, addressing the fourth India-France CEOs Forum here Monday.

The forum, comprising heads of leading businesses in France and India, was initiated by president Nicolas Sarkozy and prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2008 following Sarkozy's state visit to India, signifying the growing bilateral commercial ties.

Sharma said France would play an important role in developing nuclear power facilities in India.

"In the energy sector, we greatly value our partnership with France, especially in the nuclear power sector where France is a global leader."

Sharma said though over $14 billion worth of French investments in India were in the pipeline, it was not up to the potential. He urged French firms to enhance their business engagements with India.

"Given the strong position of French companies, the level of French investment in India is way below the potential. There are 800 French companies in India which engage over 80,000 people and we would like to see this growing in the coming years."

Sharma, who also holds the textiles portfolio, invited French fashion design institutes to bring their best practices to India in partnership with indigenous lifestyles industry. Referring to recent decision to allow 100 percent FDI in single brand retail, the minister hoped that French luxury goods companies will establish manufacturing bases in India. "This will create a win-win situation as India has emerged as a huge market for luxury goods and establishment of manufacturing in India will provide maximum value," he said.

Koodankulam a national shame, says Binayak Sen

Even as the anti-nuclear stir on the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) continues, noted human rights activist and public health specialist Dr Binayak Sen slammed the project calling it a “national shame”.

Speaking to Express after attending the TANKER awards function in the city, Sen said plainly, “It is obviously a huge risk and the fact that they are going ahead with it is shameful.”

When informed that a special emissary from Prime Minister’s Office, Minister Narayanaswamy, had just then confirmed that the plant would be commissioned as planned, he pinpointed the risks the project posed to the people and environment. “If not for anything else, see what happened in Fukushima. Do we (dare) risk a repeat?” he asked.

The national vice-president of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Sen was appreciative of the way the people had risen as a community and opposed the nuclear plant. “It is heartening to see the way they have acted for their rights,” he said.

On the ongoing trial in his alleged links with Maoists in Chhattisgarh, the paediatrician who worked for over three decades in community health seemed surprisingly at ease. “The trial is on, but I am not really sure when the next hearing is,” he said. “I am not too worried as I have not done anything wrong.”

On the health front, Sen accused the government of projecting a “fictional” figure of Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR). “Several governmental agencies have published MMR figures that ranged between 200 and 300 deaths per one lakh live births. But in reality that number is between 400 and 500,” he said. A recipient of the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights, Sen’s love for his alma mater — Christian Medical College in Vellore — remains strong. He cut short his visit to Chennai to drive down to the Fort City on Wednesday.

BJP, Congress Labour Front demand opening of Kudankulam power plant

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing and the All India Congress Labour Front (AICLF) staged demonstrations in the city on Wednesday demanding the opening of Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
The demonstrators urged the Central government to avoid any further delay and take necessary steps to open the nuclear plant immediately. 


The BJP Tiruchi urban district youth wing demonstration was headed by its district president G.D.Dinakar near the Khadi Kraft. The BJP youth wing members raised slogans stating that Kudankulam power plant was essential for Tamil Nadu as the State has been plagued by power crisis.

Decision on KNPP's Early Commissioning in Feb: Vasan

In the midst of protests against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant, Union minister G K Vasan today said a decision on its early commissioning would be taken at a public meeting here next month.
"The meeting on February 4 will be the first step for early commissioning of the plant," Vasan told reporters on the sidelines of a book release function.
KNPP was the safest among nuclear plants in the world with maximum security and safety features and the country was expecting it to generate power, the Shipping Minister said.

Germany's nuclear exit to cost 1.7 Trillion Euros?

Siemens expects Germany's exit from nuclear power to cost the country up to 1.7 trillion euros ($2.15 trillion) by 2030, the head of its energy business said.
"We have calculated that between 1,400 billion and 1,700 billion will have to be invested in the German energy sector over the next 20 years," Siemens board member Michael Suess, in charge of the company's Energy Sector, told Reuters.
"This will either be paid by energy customers or taxpayers," he said at the annual Handelsblatt Energiewirtschaft conference.

Foreign Secretary to open meet on nuclear security on Monday

India will host a preparatory meeting of officials from 49 countries next week to set the agenda for the second Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Seoul in March.
The 49 'Sherpas' or personal representatives of heads of government and officials from four multilateral organisations are expected to discuss action-oriented measures for preventing nuclear terrorism.
The measures include minimising highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium (Pu), strengthening the protection of nuclear facilities, and preventing illicit trafficking of nuclear materials. 

Worrying Effects Of Pollution In Bangalore

Of the over 200 lakes in and around Bangalore, only 12 have remained unpolluted, A.S. Sadashivaiah, Chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) said.
The unchartered growth of electroplating industry over the years has been one of the reasons for pollution of water bodies, and the chromium concentration has increased in the groundwater, he said while speaking at the International Conference on ‘Bioremediation and Environmental Management and Polar Science and Technology'.

India unlikely to follow new Japan N-power pricing model

In what could influence how governments calculate the cost of producing nuclear power, Japan has begun adding societal factors, such as the price of dealing with nuclear accidents, sharply inflating the bill.

Experts say India is unlikely to follow Japan’s model, but it could give ammunition to detractors of nuclear-generated power in the country.

A government body in Japan has said in a recent reportthat the cost of producing nuclear power in that country is now about 50% more than in 2004.

The added cost has resulted from including “the price of dealing with nuclear accidents and policy costs related to the government’s budget”, it said.

While there was no official comment from India’s nuclear establishment, a senior official, who didn’t want to be identified, said the country was unlikely to adopt the method—of incorporating the risk of nuclear plants into power generation costs.

The Japanese government agency that oversees energy and environment policy has estimated the per-unit cost of nuclear power at 8.9 yen (nearly Rs6)—significantly higher than the 5.9 yen estimate for 2004.

Factoring in the possibility of a core meltdown—because of the March accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station after a tsunami struck—societal costs were included for the first time.

The cost of producing nuclear power in India varies from as much as 90 paise a unit from the country’s oldest plants at Tarapur, Maharashtra, to Rs3.02 a unit, according to Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd, which operates 18 such plants.

Thermal power, the most ubiquitous source of electricity in India, costs between Rs2 and Rs4 a unit.

Detractors of nuclear power have maintained that the enormous cost of setting up a nuclear plant and concerns over radiation dwarf its low running cost and minimal emissions.

Additional factors such as the one used by the Japanese government could bring the per-unit cost closer to the cost involved in generating solar and wind power, and could open another line of attack for campaigns that demand a halt to nuclear plant expansion in India, according to analysts.

“We cannot follow Japan’s yardstick. Different accidents have varying levels of risk and our disaster management laws already make a provision for the funds required towards mitigating damage,” said an official at Nuclear Power Corp. “That can’t be rationally factored in in advance.”

Through the past year, India has seen roiling controversy over forthcoming nuclear power projects at Jaitapur in Maharashtra and Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu significantly influenced by the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.

Japan saw a series of nuclear reactors destruct and release copious—but harmless—radiation in the aftermath of the tsunami.

“As the Japan report shows, nuclear energy there is still cheaper than wind or geothermal,” said Sandeep Tripathi, a nuclear policy analyst, “But this could certainly lead to fresh questions of whether societal costs ought to be included in nuclear power costing.”

India produces about 4.7 billion watts of nuclear electricity and has announced plans for facilities for 14 billion watts in its forthcoming 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

UCIL to erase wrong belief on nuclear power

With an aim to wipe out pollution-related misconceptions built around uranium processing and enrichment exercise, the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) has planned to put things in right perspective.
The proposed 99th edition of the Indian Science Congress in Bhubaneswar from January 3 to 7 will witness green initiatives of the corporation. The UCIL has planned to put up a dozen-odd information panels in the allotted pavilion of the department of atomic energy at the science congress, organized by KIIT University. "The panel will showcase its activities, new projects and accomplishments (in the growth of India) in the science congress," said Atul Kumar Bajpai, the UCIL public relations officer.