Apart from the reactor
technology, India has acquired comprehensive capability in the design,
construction and operation of associated plants/facilities covering the
entire fuel cycle, starting from mining, milling and concentration of ore,
through fabrication of fuel to reprocessing and management of waste. Design,
construction and operation of heavy water plants has been done indigenously.
The DAE-organisations contributing to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Programme, are the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Research and Exploration (AMD)-Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL)-Jaduguda (Jharkand), Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IRE)-Mumbai, Heavy Water Board (HWB)-Mumbai, Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC)-Hyderabad, BARC and IGCAR.
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Minerals Exploration and Mining
Surveys, prospecting
and exploration of uranium, thorium, rare metals and rare earths, titanium
and zirconium mineral resources are done by the Atomic Minerals Directorate
for Exploration andResearch (AMD).
Mining and processing of uranium ores and mineral sands are carried out by public sector undertakings Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL) and Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IRE) respectively.
The exploratory efforts of AMD have led to the opening of uranium mines at Jaduguda, Bhatin and Narwapahar in Singhbhum (East), Jharkhand. These mines have been meeting the needs of the Indian Nuclear Power Programme. One of the major successes of the Directorate in the recent years is the discovery of Domiasiat uranium deposit in Meghalaya.
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AMD has also located sizeable uranium deposits at Wahkyn in Meghalaya, Lambapur-Yellapur and Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh, Turamdih, Bagjata, Kanyaluka and Mohuldih in Jharkhand, and Bodal and Jajawal in Madhya Pradesh. Favourable uranium mineralization has been identified at Gogi in Karnataka, Koppunuru and Gandi in Andhra Pradesh and Rohil in Rajasthan. AMD has also established a number of beach sand mineral deposits of ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, garnet and sillimanite. IRE and other government agencies commercially exploit some of the beach sand deposits discovered by AMD. Some private entrepreneurs are showing interest to participate in the beach sand industry utilising AMD’s data.
UCIL which started operations with only one underground mine and a processing mill at Jaduguda, later opened two more mines at Bhatin and Narwapahar. The latter has state-of-the-art mining infrastructure. The mined natural uranium is processed as yellow cake and sent to the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) at Hyderabad for fabrication of PHWR fuel.
IRE
has been engaged in mining and processing of mineral sands containing titanium,
zirconium, thorium and rare earths. The company has three mineral sands
separation plants at Manavalakurichi (Tamil Nadu), Chavara (Kerala) and
OSCOM-Chhatrapur (Orissa). These plants produce industrial minerals, namely
ilmenite, rutile, monazite, zircon, sillimanite and garnet.
At
OSCOM, there is a value addition plant, which produces synthetic rutile.
In addition Rare Earths Plant at Alwaye produces rare earth chlorides.
To
meet the demand of ceramic industry, IRE has set up a Microzir Plant for
production of fine zircon powder at Chavara. At Manavalakurichi, zircon
is chemically treated to zircon frit which is supplied to NFC for further
processing.
The
Rare Earths Division (RED) of IRE at Alwaye processes monazite for the
separation of thorium concentrate and rare earths.Part
of the thorium concentrate of RED is subsequently treated at the Thorium
Plant of OSCOM to yield mantle grade thorium nitrate. RED has also set
up PRYNCE Plant at Alwaye for production of very pure neodymium oxide for
making industrial magnets.
Recipient
of a number ofprestigious export
awards, IRE exports products to advanced markets of the world. During the
period 1999-2000, the total sales turnover of IRE reachedRs.
215 crore. Foreign exchange earned through export sales reached an all
time high figure of Rs. 78 crore. IRE has bagged an order of about Rs.10.5crore
(USD 2.33 million) from Egypt, for setting up a mini-pilot plant for monazite
processing.
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Heavy Water Production
In
PHWR heavy water is used as moderator and coolant.To
meet the heavy water requirements of the power and research reactors, 8
heavy water plants were constructed at Manuguru (Andhra Pradesh),Kota
(Rajasthan),Hazira and Baroda (both
at Gujarat),Thal (Maharashtra),
Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu), Talcher (Orissa) and Nangal (Panjab).Except
for the Nangal plant, the Heavy Water Board (HWB) is responsible for operation
and maintenance of the plants.
The
heavy water plants at Manuguru and Kota are based on indigenously developed
hydrogen sulphide-water exchange process. The other heavy water plants
use ammonia-hydrogen exchange process. Self-sufficiency has been achieved
in production of heavy water.Besides
meeting the domestic demand, 116 tons of heavy water has been exported
to South Korea.
In
view of the energy intensivenature
ofheavy water productiontechnologies,
the Board has been pursuing energy conservation in all its plants. As a
result, the total amount saved by the Heavy Water Board during the last
two years, has been over Rs.100 crore. To delink its ammonia based heavy
water plants from the fertilizer plants; the Board has developed the ammonia-water
front-end technology.This process
design incorporates some of the innovative steps which makes it energy
efficient.
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Nuclear
Fuel Complex
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Inside
view of Lead Mini Cell at Kalpakkam
At
Talcher, a pilot plant facility for production of D2EHPA (Di-2-ethyl hexyl
phosphoric acid) solvent has been successfully commissioned.This
solvent, an import substitute, meets the international standards of quality.
The
Board has successfully implemented ISO 9002 and ISO 14001 quality systems
at the Heavy Water Plants atManuguru
and Tuticorin.
For
upgrading the degraded heavy water from research reactors, a heavy water
upgrading facility was set up at Trombay in 1962. Based on the experience,
BARC has developed heavy water upgrading technology. At present 20 upgrading/final
enrichment towers are in operation at various sites
Nuclear
Fuel Fabrication
The
technology of conversion ofyellow
cake into the nuclear grade uranium and the fabrication of fuel bundles
for power reactors was developed indigenously.The
first fuel bundle was fabricated at Trombay by mid-1959.For
industrial scale manufacture of nuclear fuel assemblies and zircaloy structural
materials for power reactors, Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) was set up at
Hyderabad in 1971.
NFC
also manufactures seamless stainless steel and alloy steel tubes for various
engineering industries as well as ultra-pure materials for electronic industry.
Under its import substitution efforts, NFC has successfully builtsophisticated
machines for in-house use.The Complex
is engaged in the development of components foradvanced
reactors such as PFBR.
As
a part of the augmentation of its nuclear fuel and zircaloy components
production capability, NFC has commissioned new plants for the manufacture
of uranium oxide fuel, uranium fuel bundle, and zircaloy fabrication.
Over
a period, a wide variety of fuels have been developed and fabricated on
industrial scale at BARC and NFC. As mentioned earlier, the mixed uranium-plutonium
carbide fuel developed at Trombay, for FBTR, has performed well.
For
fabrication of indigenous mixed oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies for BWR at
TAPS, the Advanced Fuel Fabrication Facility (AFFF) was set up at Tarapur.The
MOX fuel produced here has given satisfactory performance.
Fuel
Reprocessing and Waste Management
The
Indian nuclear energy resource profile requires a closed cycle that involves
reprocessing of spent fuel and recycle of plutonium and uranium-233. India
had commenced development of fuel reprocessing technology from the inception
of its nuclear programme.Today it
has pilot plant for reprocessing at Trombay and industrial scale plants
at Tarapur and Kalpakkam. At Kalpakkam, a Lead Mini Plant for reprocessing
of FBTR fuel is approaching completion anda
plant for reprocessing of fast reactor fuel (FRFRP) is under construction.
The
radioactive wastes generated at various stages of nuclear fuel cycle are
categorised as low, intermediate and high level wastes.Plants
for management of all types of radioactive wastes have been in operation
at many nuclear facilities. The low and medium level radioactive wastes
are treated in eco-friendly ways. The high level wastes, generated in very
small quantities, are fixed in glass matrix. Vitrification, a complex technology
possessed by a few nations,has been
successfully developed at Trombay. Based on this technology, aWaste
Immobilisation Plant (WIP) is in operation at Tarapur and two more plants
are coming up at Trombay and Kalpakkam. For final disposal of immobilised
high-levelradioactive wastes, a
programme ofsiting a repository
in suitable deep geological formations is being pursued.
Vitrified waste is
stored in a specially designed solid storage surveillance facility for
about 30 years prior to its disposal in deep geological formation.The
first such facility has been in operation at Tarapur since 1999.