Nuclear Energy

Recommendations

Info

of us are not aware about it, but the potential is huge. A recent study by “Prayas Energy Group”, a well-known Pune-based research group on policy analysis, has estimated the energy savings that can be achieved by the use of energy-efficient home appliances in the country. The report focuses on nine appliances which contribute to almost all the electricity consumption in Indian households – fans, incandescent bulbs, tube lights, refrigerators, ACs, air coolers, electric water heater, room heater and televisions (active mode) – and apart from that, stand-by power. Stand-by power is power wasted because appliances are not switched off after use and kept on stand-by mode; the report takes into consideration the stand-by losses of Set-Top-Boxes, DVD Players, TVs and computers. The report takes 2008 as the starting year for its analysis, and calculates the energy savings that would result if all incandescent bulbs were replaced with CFLs and tube-lights with EE models, and all new purchases of appliances by households were of the most energy efficient appliances available in India. The report comes to the astonishing conclusion that after five years, this would result in an annual savings of about 57 TWh in 2013! That is about 30% of the additional annual consumption that would otherwise have happened under a business-as-usual scenario in that year. Retrofitting of lights accounts for about half the saving while ceiling fans, TVs, refrigerators, and reduction in stand-by power account for another 40% of the savings in households. dcxlv These potential savings correspond to saving more than 25,000 MW in generating capacity addition! dcxlvi It is equivalent to the total combined capacity of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, the Mithivirdi Nuclear Power Plant, the Kovvada Nuclear Power Plant and the Haripur Nuclear Power Plant! Many efficiency measures are very easy to implement, and the investment made would be more than compensated by the savings. One such extremely quick and cheap way of bringing about significant energy savings is: replacing incandescent lamps by Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL). This has the potential to reduce the lighting load of the system by about 80%, and the total cost of lighting to a consumer by about 66%. dcxlvii It is indicative of the sloppiness and lethargy of our energy planners and their obsession with setting up new power plants that no serious attempt has been made to implement even this in our country. 2. Demand Size Management Apart from increasing end-use efficiency, another way of increasing the availability of electricity for end-use is by curbing demand, in what is called Demand Size Management (DSM). There is huge scope for this too in the country. One obvious example is better design of buildings and street lighting systems – in fact many buildings are so awfully designed that they need lighting even during daytime in summers, in a tropical country like ours! Similarly, wasteful and unnecessary illumination of commercial buildings and wasteful lighting of roadside hoardings should be curbed. At the very least what can be done is that all such consumers should be asked to immediately install solar lighting systems. Why should scarce electricity from the grid be spent on 156
such absolutely non-essential uses? Restrictions should also be imposed on use of air conditioners, as well as the recent craze for night time sports, which too consume huge amounts of electricity. Another important aspect of DSM, which also helps in reducing system costs, is implementing measures to reduce the peak demand, that is, the gap between the maximum demand and the average demand. This can be done by proper planning, such as getting industries to diversify the peak load hours. IEP 2006 also admits to the potential of DSM. It says that if DSM options like energy efficient processes, equipment, lighting and buildings are pursued, electricity demand can be reduced by at least 15%. dcxlviii 3. Balance Sheet All the above mentioned savings resulting from improving generation, transmission and end-use efficiency add up to a whopping 50,000 MW at the minimum. Out of a total generation capacity of 160,000 MW! That means, that just by merely improving the efficiency of the existing electrical infrastructure to even near international standards will reduce the electricity demand by at least 30-40%! Table 10.3: All-India Power Supply Scenario (2007-08) dcxlix Energy Energy Availability Energy Shortage 739,345 MUs 666,007 MUs 73,338 MUs (9.9%) Peak Demand Peak Demand met Peak Shortage 108,866 MW 90,793 MW . 18,073 MW (16.60%) Let us now compare the potential of energy savings in India with the power supply deficit in the country (Table 10.3). If we compare the deficit figures with the potential of reducing the electricity demand in the country by improving system efficiency, it is obvious that the entire power sector deficit can be wiped out only by implementing efficiency improvement measures! Not only that, there would even be a surplus!! That means, even without the addition of any new electrical generation capacities, there will be no electricity deficit in the country for the next few years at least. dcl The cost of implementing these efficiency improvement measures will also be much lower as compared to setting up new generating capacities – saving a unit of energy costs about one fourth of the cost of producing it with a new plant. dcli 157
Page 1 and 2:
NUCLEAR ENERGY Technology From Hell
Page 3 and 4:
Introduction Part I: Government Pla
Page 5 and 6:
yet to find solution to the problem
Page 7 and 8:
Mithivirdi: A powerful movement of
Page 9 and 10:
eing proposed to be set up in the c
Page 11 and 12:
nuclear power plant accident, in ou
Page 13 and 14:
was subsequently endorsed by the he
Page 15 and 16:
Atoms are so small that they can’
Page 17 and 18:
called enriched uranium. [Note that
Page 19 and 20:
of a nuclear power reactor. A typic
Page 21 and 22:
Coolant: A liquid or gas circulatin
Page 23 and 24:
Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor Hea
Page 25 and 26:
Is Nuclear Energy Safe? Chapter 3 A
Page 27 and 28:
iii. Gamma radiation: This is akin
Page 29 and 30:
haematopoietic system). Radiation c
Page 31 and 32:
Part III: Radiation Emission in Nuc
Page 33 and 34:
The radioactivity from the tailing
Page 35 and 36:
power plant contains an amount of l
Page 37 and 38:
Tritium is a particularly scary mat
Page 39 and 40:
Plutonium cxi Named after Pluto, th
Page 41 and 42:
Firstly, reprocessing does not redu
Page 43 and 44:
sports and fishing were also banned
Page 45 and 46:
detail the impact of these 'once th
Page 47 and 48:
We today know for a fact that the n
Page 49 and 50:
Till 2005, there were at least 10,0
Page 51 and 52:
The report mentions 16 “events”
Page 53 and 54:
In an article published in The Nati
Page 55 and 56:
Even asssuming that there will not
Page 57 and 58:
fossil fuels. It has now come up wi
Page 59 and 60:
Opinion of Credit Ratings Agencies
Page 61 and 62:
it acknowledged that the expected c
Page 63 and 64:
plant owners to use much more of th
Page 65 and 66:
was the Vice-President of the USA):
Page 67 and 68:
6. Blithely Ignoring Health Costs S
Page 69 and 70:
Is Nuclear Power Green? Chapter 5 S
Page 71 and 72:
Energy Balance attempts to make an
Page 73 and 74:
nuclear energy as compared to elect
Page 75 and 76:
Table 1: Estimates of Total and Nuc
Page 77 and 78:
� At the end of 2009, there were
Page 79 and 80:
Therefore, despite all the optimism
Page 81 and 82:
1. Reviewing the Nuclear Renaissanc
Page 83 and 84:
certification also runs out in 2012
Page 85 and 86:
nuclear phase-out plans which are n
Page 87 and 88:
lower house (Bundestag) to pass a b
Page 89 and 90:
UK and French nuclear safety author
Page 91 and 92:
The second and more important reaso
Page 93 and 94:
eactor or two, but considering that
Page 95 and 96:
Pre-Independence Period India’s N
Page 97 and 98:
Secretary to the DAE. The 1958 Reso
Page 99 and 100:
The reality has been quite differen
Page 101 and 102:
Narora Uttar Pradesh PHWR 220 x 2 4
Page 103 and 104:
Background Part III: US-India Agree
Page 105 and 106: 2. New Reactors Even before the Ind
Page 107 and 108: clearance, indicative of the fact t
Page 109 and 110: producing electricity from these re
Page 111 and 112: matters of negotiations”. cdxliii
Page 113 and 114: arm of Indian big industry, had ext
Page 115 and 116: India’s Nuclear Installations: Sa
Page 117 and 118: extremely sensitive material used i
Page 119 and 120: area due to uranium mining. cdlxxxi
Page 121 and 122: women complained of fatigue, weakne
Page 123 and 124: India: World’s most unsafe, most
Page 125 and 126: the AEC has not instituted an award
Page 127 and 128: The biggest deficiency in the Rajas
Page 129 and 130: The bed of the Thane creek, which i
Page 131 and 132: Fires have also occurred repeatedly
Page 133 and 134: workers are exposed to radiation, a
Page 135 and 136: can't catch anything else, and ther
Page 137 and 138: up in 1971 at Kalpakkam to lead the
Page 139 and 140: Tulsunde (population 800), Janshipa
Page 141 and 142: are going to be correspondingly hig
Page 143 and 144: governing the computers and systems
Page 145 and 146: guidelines.” It’s unbelievable
Page 147 and 148: The Sustainable Alternative to Nucl
Page 149 and 150: especially bad in the rural areas,
Page 151 and 152: of the human body. In particular, t
Page 153 and 154: While the costs of large dams are h
Page 155: Demand Side Management Potential to
Page 159 and 160: The US has the highest installed wi
Page 161 and 162: Solar water heaters are a very simp
Page 163 and 164: Renewable Energies: Poised for a Le
Page 165 and 166: (iii) Small Hydro Power The governm
Page 167 and 168: Indian villages are spread over wid
Page 169 and 170: Energy about the huge potential of
Page 171 and 172: anticipating a change in NSG rules,
Page 173 and 174: � Privatise the public sector, in
Page 175 and 176: countries - recycling rubbish in th
Page 177 and 178: inflows of foreign capital (also kn
Page 179 and 180: analyse. We must develop our politi
Page 181 and 182: xxvii I. Semendeferi, “Legitimati
Page 183 and 184: lxxxvii Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jam
Page 185 and 186: cliii The IAEA maintains an interna
Page 187 and 188: cciv Mycle Schneider, et al., “Th
Page 189 and 190: cclxxi “Nuclear power: a dangerou
Page 191 and 192: cccxxxv “The postponement of the
Page 193 and 194: cdi “Uranium imports boost Indian
Page 195 and 196: cdlxix Dhirendra Sharma, India’s
Page 197 and 198: dxxxviii “Nuclear power in India
Page 199 and 200: dxciii M. V. Ramana, ibid. dxciv Mu
Page 201 and 202: dclix Union of Concerned Scientists
show all

Nuclear Energy

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?