CONSULTING

geographically the nuclear plant that is closest to Southeast Asia. 528 While documents from
Ratchaburi list 236 MW of capacity from Fangchenggang II coming on in 2021, it is unclear, if this
is going to result in an actual delivery of electricity or this represents merely a financial asset. 529
India operates 20 nuclear power reactors, with a total capacity of 5.2 GW. In 2015, nuclear
power provided a record 34.6 TWh, but that only constituted 3.5 percent (down from 3.7 percent
in 2011) of the total electricity generated in the country. The nuclear share has remained stable
since 2013, while nuclear power generation increased by 15.4 percent over the same period.
Although the Rajasthan-1 reactor is still listed as operational by the IAEA and counted by the
Indian nuclear establishment in its list of reactors, it has not generated any power since 2004 and,
according to the WNISR criteria, was moved to the LTO category in 2014. In September 2014, the
chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission stated that Rajasthan-1 (or RAPS-1) would not be
restarted 530 and WNISR moved it from LTO to closure.
Six reactors are under construction with a total capacity of 3.9 GW. These include the second VVER
from Russia at Kudankulam that has been under construction since July 2002, the Prototype Fast
Breeder Reactor (PFBR) whose construction started in October 2004, and four PHWRs whose
construction started in 2010 and 2011. All of these are delayed. Kudankulam-2 was to have been
commissioned in December 2008. 531 However, its commissioning has been repeatedly postponed
due to various causes. The latest problem to be publicly revealed has been with the reactor coolant
pump, whose design had to be modified and components replaced after a round of tests carried
out prior to commissioning the reactor. 532 As of May 2016, the reactor had been loaded with fuel
and was expected to become critical by “mid-2016”. 533 The cost of the two Kudankulam units has
gone up by over 70 percent. 534 The PFBR was supposed to be commissioned in 2010. 535 In
December 2015, the Chairman and Managing Director of the State Owned Corporation that is
constructing the PFBR pronounced that the project “shall generate power by September next
528 Phil Chaffee, “Thailand: Beyond the Fangchenggang Stake”, NIW, 8 January 2016.
529 Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Co, “Analyst Meeting, 2015 Year End Results”,
26 February 2016, see http://ratch.listedcompany.com/misc/PRESN/20160302-ratch-analystmeeting-4q2015-
01.pdf, accessed 31 May 2016.
530 Deccan Herald, “End of the road for RAPS 1”, 6 September 2014, see
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/429550/end-road-raps-1.html, accessed 16 June 2016.
531 Infrastructure & Project Monitoring Division, “Project Implementation Status Report on Central Sector
Projects (Costing Rs.20 Crores & Above)—January-March 2004”, Ministry of Statistics & Programme
Implementation (MoSPI), New Delhi, 2004, see http://mospi.nic.in/pi_status_report_csp.pdf, accessed
2 July 2016 .
532 Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment &
Forests, “Two Hundred Eighty Second Report on—Demands for Grants (2016-2017) of the Department of
Atomic Energy (Demand No. 4 )”, May 2016, New Delhi.
533 IANS, “Kudankulam unit 2 reactor fuel loading complete”, Business Standard, 19 May 2016, see
http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/kudankulam-unit-2-reactor-fuel-loading-complete-
116051900856_1.html, accessed 17 June 2016.
534 MoSPI, “78th Report On Mega Projects (Rs. 1000 Crore and Above)”, November 2015.
535 T. S. Subramanian, “A milestone at Kalpakkam”, Frontline, Volume 21, Issue 23, 6-19 November 2004,
see http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2123/stories/20041119003210200.htm, accessed 2 July 2016.
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. 144 World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016