Nuclear Power Capable of Mitigating India’s Energy Crisis
Unless India moves towards sustainable and long-term energy sources, policy-makers see India facing a energy crisis in the future. In this nuclear energy emerges as an immediate and relatively sustainable solution to an impending energy crisis.
A successful organization of any nuclear power programme is hinged on an efficient strategy for nuclear waste management, and after 2009, India gained full sanction for being a part of the global nuclear energy market.
Since then, India’s nuclear capacity in the nuclear power programme has been growing exponentially. Globally, the share of nuclear power in electricity generation had witnessed a decline from 17 per cent to 11 per cent between 1995 and 2015 (R. Anderson, 2015). India however, plans to increase its nuclear power capacity to 14.6 GWe by 2024 and to 63 GWe by 2032, and has plans to have 25 per cent of its electricity supply to be supplied by nuclear power by 2050 (World Nuclear Association, WNA, 2016).
Until 2009, India’s exclusion from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its nuclear weapons programme hampered India’s full participation in the global nuclear market. It also harmed India’s efforts at developing civil nuclear energy. India possesses low reserves of uranium (a nuclear fuel). However, during this period India has developed a nuclear fuel cycle that utilizes its thorium reserves.
The highest amount of electricity from nuclear energy is utilized in India in the states of Maharashtra (690 MW) and Gujarat (559 MW) (CEA, 2013). India’s energy consumption grew to more than twice than that of 1990 to 25,000 PJ by 2011 (WNA, 2016). India’s dependence on imported energy sources and the slow pace of reform in the energy sector are hindrances to energy self-sufficiency in India.
One-third of the population is not connected to any electricity grid and 19 per cent of the population is without any electricity, while three-quarters of electricity supplied in India comes from coal (WNA, 2016), which is plentiful in India as a cheap source of energy but is a major contributor to greenhouse gases and overall pollution, other than being a perishable resource. As such, the trend in India is to look for other sources of energy for electricity generation that are cleaner, cost-effective and productive. India also needs to move forward in the long-term from its energy dependency on a perishable energy source.
Some Benefits of Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power as an energy source is a sustainable source of energy, whether it is evaluated from the point of view of impacts on the climate, waste disposal and safety (provided caution is exercised), land use and technology transfers. First of all, nuclear power plants do not produce greenhouse gases such as carbon di oxide, carbon monoxide, methane, etc, allowing nations to honour their commitments towards meeting emission targets under the various international conventions and domestic pollution control targets, while generating great amounts of energy at the same time.
Nuclear power plants are also a concentrated source of energy production, and lead to judicious land use. The abundance of uranium, the fuel for nuclear power plants, and the extremely high conversion rates allows long-term energy consumption with low amounts of fuel.
Nuclear power can also be a cost-effective form of energy production for developing economies, provided that they have access to nuclear technology. These allow nuclear technology to be utilized for the generation of a cost-effective and relatively sustainable form of energy without constantly harming the environment, unlike fossil fuels.
Nuclear Waste Management in India
However, nuclear power can cause problems the form of toxic radioactive material in the form of nuclear waste that is hard to dispose of.
Nuclear waste management is dependent on its properties, which can be radioactive, chemical, or physical properties. High-level radioactive wastes are made up of complex amalgamations of radionuclides (radioactive forms of elements) of about 30 to 40 different elements.
Most of these radionuclides are toxic and emit radioactive particles like alpha, beta or gamma rays during their decay. The disposal of high-level radioactive wastes requires their storage i.e. containment and concentration.
There are different time periods for which high-level radioactive wastes need to be isolated and stored, depending on the amount of time the radioactive wastes take to decay i.e. reach a level roughly equal to naturally occurring radiation levels i.e. to that of uranium ore for example. The time period required can sometimes extend up to more than 1,00,000 years and as this makes storage difficult, technologies are being developed in an effort to reduce the time period to about 1,000 to 10,000 years.
The nature and severity of the health effects of radiation exposure depends upon the amount of radiation and the time for which one is exposed to radiation. Radiation exposure in relation to human health can be chronic or acute exposure. Continuous or intermittent exposure to radiation over a long period of time leads to chronic exposure. In chronic exposure the health effects are observed a certain time period after exposure to radiation, and most commonly leads to cancer. Other health effects include genetic changes, cataracts, tumors, etc.
Acute exposure occurs when large parts of the human body are exposed to large amounts of radiation and can occur one time or multiple times over intervals of time (USEPA, 2017). Acute exposure leads to radiation sickness, which is a collection of health effects taking effect within 24 hours of acute exposure to radioactivity involving mainly cellular degradation and its various symptoms.
Smaller exposures can lead to gastrointestinal effects, nausea, vomiting and reduced blood counts. A larger exposure can lead to neurological effects and even death. As the cells of pregnant women and foetuses divide rapidly, providing greater opportunity for radiation to spread and cause cell damage, they are particularly at risk of exposure to radiation.
In terms of the governance of radioactive wastes, the first point is that radioactive wastes can only be handled by trained personnel who are specialists. They mostly work in among the 446 nuclear power plants operational in the world that produce radioactive wastes (IAEA, 2017).
However, other than the organizational aspect, the only legal policy to implement safety standards in managing radioactive wastes internationally is the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.
While the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) manages nuclear safety in the international arena, in India the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) formulates policies and lays down safety standards concerning nuclear energy.
The AERB exercises regulation by laying down guidelines and a licensing system based on stage-based evaluation. India’s nuclear safety programme includes reactor design policies, radiation exposure targets, radioactive waste management, and preparedness for nuclear emergencies.
Nuclear scientists say that India is vigilant towards radioactive wastes as regards the environment and believes in containment and concentration of radionuclides rather than their eventual dispersal in the environment (U.C. Mishra, BARC, 2011).
In a bid to develop an efficient strategy for nuclear waste management, India has recently developed a method for nuclear waste immobilization of high-level nuclear waste using a sodium-barium-borosilicate glass matrix.
India is also trying to use the same matrix to manage nuclear wastes generated from the closed thorium fuel cycle method of producing nuclear energy.
Conventionally the hot wall induction furnace technology is used in the development of inert glass matrices. India has however recently been developing by itself cold crucible induction melters and Joule heated ceramic melters in developing inert glass matrices for nuclear waste management (Sengupta, Kaushik & Dey, 2017).
The geological immobilization of radioactive wastes, seen as among the most effective techniques, or a similarly effective storage technology effectively implemented would represent the best alternative to India in the disposal of nuclear waste.
One only needs to remember the Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island disasters to understand the horrific impacts radiation discharges can have on the environment and health. In such a scenario, a proper method and discipline of storing radioactive wastes, coupled with a regulative infrastructure that supports nuclear safety and an international regime that facilitates and ensures the presence of safety standards and infrastructure in case of deficiencies in India’s nuclear power programme is imperative.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.