Nuclear Fuel Cycle

The Nuclear Power Programme has a number of ancillary operations which form the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. The Front-End of this Cycle includes mineral exploration, mining and processing of ore, and fuel fabrication. Reprocessing of spent uranium fuel and management of nuclear waste form part of the Back-End of the Cycle.

India has acquired comprehensive capability in PHWR design, construction and operation of associated plants/facilities covering the entire nuclear fuel cycle of the nuclear power programme based on pressurized heavy water reactors. This includes production of heavy water that is used as moderator and coolant in PHWR.

The DAE organizations contributing to the Front-End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Programme are the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Research and Exploration (AMD), Hyderabad; Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL), Jaduguda (Jharkhand); Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), Hyderabad; and Heavy Water Board (HWB), Mumbai. BARC and IGCAR administer the Back End of the Cycle.

Front End Fuel Cycle

The operations under the Front-End Fuel Cycle range from mining, milling and processing of ore, and fabrication of fuel. In addition, heavy water production is also an ancillary programme to the DAE’s PHWR programme.

Survey and Exploration

The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) is engaged in survey, exploration and evaluation of resources of uranium, thorium, niobium, tantalum, beryllium, zirconium, lithium, yttrium and rare earth elements required for the indigenous atomic energy programme of the country. The geological studies related to the selection of nuclear power plant sites and repositories for the disposal of nuclear wastes are carried out by AMD in collaboration with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) Survey and exploration for atomic minerals had commenced in 1949. Over the years, uranium deposits have been located at Jaduguda, Bhatin, Narwapahar, Turamdih (East and South), Banduhuran (Turamdih West), Central Keruadungri, Bagjata, Kanyaluka, Mohuldih and Nandup in Jharkhand; Domiasiat and Wahkyn in Meghalaya; Lambapur - Peddagattu, Koppunuru and Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh; Gogi in Karnataka and Rohil in Rajasthan. So far, AMD has established 61,000 tonnes of uranium metal.

Certain Proterozoic basins, which are the prime targets for unconformity related high-grade uranium deposits are Andhra Pradesh; Delhi basin (fold belt) in Rajasthan; Bhima and Kaladgi-Badami basins in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh; Indravati and Abujhmar basins in Chhattisgarh; and Gwalior basin in Madhya Pradesh.

The Mesozoic and Tertiary basins, which are the targets for large tonnage sandstone type of uranium deposits under exploration, are the Mesozoic Mahadek basin in Meghalaya and Gondwana basin in Madhya Pradesh as well as the Upper Tertiary Siwalik basin in Himachal Pradesh. AMD has also stockpiled adequate resources of columbine-tantalite (niobium & tantalum mineral).

A number of beach sand deposits, containing limonite, retile and leucoxene (titanium), zircon (zirconium), monazite (thorium and LREE), sillimanite and garnet have also been established in the East and West coasts in parts of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharashtra, as well as in the inland Teri sand of Tamil Nadu and riverine places of Bihar and West Bengal. At Brahmagiri, Puri district, Orissa, a deposit containing 120 million tonnes of heavy mineral resources has been established. This is the largest single deposit of heavy mineral resources in the country. Besides, heavy mineral resources have also been identified at Narsapur, West Godavari district, Amlapuram, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh; Vayakallur-Tutto, Kanyakumari district;Tamil Nadu; and Thotatapalli - Alappuzha, Kollam and Alappuzha districts, Kerala.

So far, AMD has identified about 700 million tonnes of beach sand heavy mineral resources.

Mining and Ore Processing

The exploratory efforts of AMD, made earlier, had led to the opening of four underground uranium mines at Jaduguda, Bhatin, Narwapahar and Turamdih all in Singbhum (East), Jharkhand state. A new open cast mine was also commissioned at Banduhurang in Singbhum in 2007. These mines, being operated by the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL), a public sector undertaking of DAE, have been meeting the needs of the Indian Nuclear Power Programme.

To meet the projected demand of the nuclear power programme, UCIL has taken up the work to develop mines at Bagjata (in Jharkhand), Lambapur (Andhra Pradesh) and Domiasiat (Meghalaya). Efforts are being made for exploiting other secondary resources.

UCIL also operates a uranium mill for processing of the uranium ores to produce yellow cake which is further sent to NFC for fuel fabrication. In addition, magnetite present in the uranium ore is recovered as a by-product in the uranium process plant.

The research and development in the field of ore processing and uranium metal production is done at Trombay. An uranium metal production facility for production of uranium ingot operates at Trombay.

Nuclear Fuel Fabrication

Nuclear fuel fabrication for power reactors and research reactors is done respectively at the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, and BARC. In the development of new fuels, BARC and IGCAR are engaged. The Indian PHWR uses natural uranium-based fuel. A major milestone was achieved with the fabrication of the first fuel element at Trombay in 1959.

For industrial scale manufacture of nuclear fuel assemblies and zircaloy structural components for power reactors, the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) was set up in Hyderabad in 1971. NFC, now an ISO 9001 organisation, manufactures zircaloy-4 clad natural and depleted uranium oxide and thoria bundles for pressurised heavy water reactors, zircaloy-2 clad enriched uranium oxide fuels for boiling water reactors and stainless steel clad thoria and depleted uranium oxide blanket sub-assemblies for liquid metal-cooled fast breeder reactor. NFC also manufactures zirconium alloy structural components for the above reactors. In addition, NFC produces seamless stainless tubes, hexcans and other structural for fast reactor core assemblies and special alloy tubes. It also caters to the demand of high quality stainless steel tubes and pipes for critical and strategic applications in nuclear power plants and re-processing plants in atomic energy.

The plants of NFC have been performing very well meeting their annual production targets consecutively for the last six years and some of the plants have even crossed their plant capacities.

At BARC a wide variety of fuels have been developed and fabricated on industrial scale for fabrication of indigenous mixed oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies for boiling water reactors at TAPS.

BARC has set-up the Advanced Fuel Fabrication Facility (AFFF) at Tarapur. The MOX fuel produced here has given satisfactory performance. Construction of a Zirconim Oxide Plant for enhancing the production capacity of zirconium oxide powder is underway.

Titanium half alloy hydraulic tubes are critical components in Light Combat Aircraft. The first batch of these tubes has been produced by NFC for the Aeronautical Development Authority. This development is considered to have a huge economic potential.

Heavy Water Production and Upgrading

The Heavy Water Board (HWB) of DAE is responsible for building and operating heavy water plants in the country. The Board has seven heavy water plants in the country. Besides meeting domestic needs of heavy water, the board has also exported heavy water. In November 2006, the Board executed the seventh export order of 13 MT of heavy water to South Korea besides entering into a contract with US for the supply of 4400 kg of nuclear grade heavy water.

Recognizing the efforts put in by the Board in the field of energy conservation and energy management, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency of the Ministry of Power, assigned to the Board a lead role to carry out energy management and conservation for fertilizer, petroleum and chlor alkali sector industries to achieve the national goal of energy conservation.

Through continuing research, BARC had developed heavy water upgrading technology for use on commercial scale. Based on this technology, at present 23 upgrading final enrichment towers are in operation at various sites and some are under construction.

Back-End of Nuclear Fuel Cycle

The Back-End of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle comprises fuel reprocessing and nuclear waste management.

Fuel Reprocessing

The Indian nuclear power generation programme is based on closed-cycle approach that involves reprocessing of spent fuel and recycle of Plutonium and Uranium-233 for power generation.

From the inception of its nuclear power programme, DAE had commenced development of fuel reprocessing technology. It has a Pilot Plant for fuel reprocessing at Trombay and industrial scale plants at Tarapur and Kalpakkam. The plant at Trombay processes spent fuel from research reactors while the other two plants process spent fuel from power reactors.

Nuclear Waste Management

The radioactive wastes generated at various stages of nuclear fuel cycle are categorised as low, intermediate and high level wastes. The plants for management of all types of radioactive wastes have been in operation at many nuclear facilities.

The high level wastes, generated in very small quantities, are fixed in a glass matrix. Vitrification, a complex technology possessed by a few nations only, has been successfully developed at Trombay. Based on this technology, two Waste Immobilisation Plants (WIPs) have been operating at Tarapur and Trombay. A facility for the immobilisation of waste in a cement matrix has been commissioned at Kalpakkam. BARC has constructed an Advanced Vitrification System at Tarapur for high level waste immobilisation based on Joule Melter Technology. India has become one of the six countries who have developed the Joule Heated Ceramic Mixer (JHCM) and set up such facilities for vitrification of high level waste.

Vitrified waste is stored in a specially designed Solid Storage Surveillance Facility (SSSF) for about 30 years prior to its disposal in deep geological formation. The first such facility has been in operation at Tarapur since 1999.

R&D Support to Nuclear Power

The programmes relating to nuclear power and the nuclear fuel cycle have been built on the multidisciplinary R&D infrastructure of the Department. The research and development relating to PHWR programme encompasses practically all the aspects of design, manufacture, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of power plants. Thrust on indigenisation of equipment and components have led to the development of technologies for operation and maintenance of power reactors. The technologies that emerged from the research and development include automation, monitoring, inspection, and repair systems, equipment and gadgets. Special Purpose Machines have been designed, developed and successfully used for carrying out in-situ precision machining and cutting operations for the upgradation/maintenance of reactors. A number of state-of-the art instrumentation and control systems for reactors and heavy water plants have been developed at BARC and IGCAR.

The R&D efforts are focused on reducing the unit energy cost through improving plant efficiency as well as plant availability factors, decreasing the project gestation period and improving plant safety. R&D has contributed immensely to plant life management. The strong R&D base has led to a number of successes notably repair of over pressure relief device of RAPS-1, en-masse removal and replacement of coolant channels of RAPS-2; Management of Calandria inlet manifold, End-shield repair; Steam generator hair-pin removal, Development of BARCIS system for in service inspection of coolant channels, and System to relocate garter springs in coolant channels. A number of new technologies, such as servo-manipulators, image processing based alignment system, and others have been developed. From KAPS-2 onwards, improved coolant channel material and modified channel design have been adopted for longer life of coolant channels.

At BARC, Liquid Zone Control System (LZCS) in the 540 MWe PhWR consisting of six Liquid Zone Control Assemblies containing fourteen Zone Control Compartments (ZCCs), associated equipment for circulation of liquid absorber and inert cover gas in the ZCC’s and measuring and control devices were designed and installed. Micro computer based Fault tolerant real time Process Control System has been designed and delivered for 540 MWe TAPP-3&4.

Robotics is one of the major thrust areas of the R&D programmes at BARC and IGCAR. A five-degree-of-freedom Robot, for deployment in radioactive chemical laboratories, a six-degree-of-freedom Robot and a mobile Robot have been developed at Trombay. At IGCAR, for automation of non destructive evaluation, various devices have been developed. These include a Mobile Scanner (MOBSCAN), a Remotely Operated Power Manipulator (ROPMAN), and a Robot for capping and decapping bottles.

Various pieces of equipment developed by BARC helped in improving the safe operating life of coolant channels from seven to more than nine effective full power years.

The 2 MW in-pile loop in Dhruva Reactor installed for nuclear fuel studies is a major achievement. A Remotely Operated Hydraulic Trolley & Manipulator (ROHYTAM) developed for handling of nuclear power plant emergencies, successfully completed its test run. To meet the quality needs of the nuclear programme, several non destructive testing techniques and equipment have been developed by BARC and IGCAR.

DAE has been promoting technology relating to quality assurance. Over a period, this approach has paid dividends to the nation by upgrading the quality levels of the Indian industry.

Electronics & Instrumentation

To meet the hi-tech instrumentation needs of the nuclear technology, a strong R&D base was created in electronics and instrumentation, first at TIFR and later at BARC. The knowhow and the products developed at Trombay in the area of electronics have led to the setting up of the Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL) at Hyderabad in 1967. The company pioneered the electronics and computer revolution in India. During seventies and eighties, ECIL led the television revolution in the country by bringing out indigenous black & white and colour television sets and also rural rebroadcast systems.

ECIL, is now a multi-product and multi-disciplinary organisation providing key technology inputs, system integration and system solutions in the areas of information technology, strategic electronics, communications, control and automation, instrumentation and components.

ECIL, through its software expertise, has contributed to automation in the banking sector, control room and dial-100 automation for the police, message switching systems for defence and telecom sectors, management information systems for the ports, municipal corporations and market yards and others. The company has provided countrywide SPC telex networks, message switching network and maintenance systems for telephone exchanges, and contributed to the technology solutions, in the areas of command, control, communications, computers & information/intelligence systems. Nuclear and thermal power plants, steel plants and process industries are equipped with ECIL’s control systems developed through in-house R&D.

The DAE research centres are also engaged in the development of sophisticated electronic systems, instruments and components for the nuclear power programme and various other applications.