New Delhi, Jan 15 (IANS) Startups can play an important role in building a self-reliant programme nuclear programme by contributing to technology development, said Dr Anil Kakodkar, former chairman, Atomic Energy Commission on Thursday.
Kakodkar told IANS that the country’s nuclear programme has been built on self-reliance.
Despite technology embargoes in the past, India developed advanced reactor systems indigenously, which are now performing extremely well.
Kakodkar explained that nuclear reactors are large entities. Even a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant involves a massive investment. At an approximate cost of Rs 20 crore per megawatt, a 1,000-megawatt plant requires an investment of around Rs 20,000 crore. This scale of investment is clearly beyond what a startup can handle. However, multiple players are needed.
“Startups can still play an important role, for example, by contributing to technology development,” Kakodkar said.
“They can focus on small proof-of-principle systems, such as micro-reactors of around one megawatt capacity. These are needed, but they must be extremely safe. Such designs are often described as ‘walk-away safe’, meaning they can eliminate the risk of catastrophic failures like Chernobyl. Developing reactors of this kind is an area where startups can make meaningful contributions,” the expert told IANS.
“Such reactors will not solve large grid-level problems, but they can address the energy needs of remote localities,” he noted.
Further, when their safety gets proven, it will add to public confidence, which can serve other applications. “For example, a large housing complex can easily require a couple of megawatts of power, and that demand could be met through such systems,” Kakodkar said.
Another domain for startups is nuclear power projects that require lots of components, which the companies can develop and supply.
“So, we need an ecosystem of large system-level work and many startups which together can deliver the so-called self-reliant programme,” Kakodkar said, and aid in developing fast reactors, thorium-based reactors, and molten salt reactors. There is significant development still required in all these areas, and startups can play a meaningful role in this process, the expert said.
--IANS
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