INDIA aims to deploy 40-50 small modular nuclear reactors, mostly to replace captive thermal power plants, as it aims to achieve the goal of net-zero emissions by 2070. A top industry official said that the 220-MWe Pressurised HeavyWater Reactor (PHWR) was being redesigned using 3D design platforms with an aim to achieve a high degree of standardisation that would allow easy deployment, even in old thermal power plants used by the steel, aluminium, copper and the cement industries. The Department of Atomic Energy and Tata Consulting Engineers are redesigning the PHWRs to develop the Bharat Small Modular Reactor. “We are going to take the old design of the PHWR and then reconfigure and redesign it to be modular, scalable and safety-aligned to post-Fukushimastandards,” Amit Sharma, the managing director and CEO of Tata Consulting Engineers, told PTI.

 

Sharma said in the case of small modular reactors (SMRs), the planwas to make 40-50 reactors inless than seven to eight yearsbut added that it required ahigh degree of standardisation, safety and modularity. Presenting the Union budget last month, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanannounced that theGovernment would partner withthe private sector to set up BharatSmall Reactors and in the research anddevelopment of SMRs. She had said theGovernment would also partner with the privatesector for research and development of newertechnologies for nuclear energy