03-24-2008, 07:11 AM
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Thorium plant gets Rs 2 crore less
24 Mar 2008, 0004 hrs IST,Subodh Varma,TNN
NEW DELHI: <span style='font-family:Impact'><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>At a time when the UPA government is projecting nuclear power as the answer to India's future energy needs, allocations for the DAE in the 2008-09 Budget are Rs 1,333 crore less than last year's</span></span>.
A D Damodaran, former head of the Nuclear Fuels Complex, pointed out that a comparison of the outlay and estimated actual expenditure for last year shows that in many cases money has also remained unspent. "Why this slow down? Is it due to avoidable project slippage or was it thrust on DAE under the embargo regime?" he said.
The most important segment of India's long-term strategy for nuclear power â the thorium cycle â could be adversely affected by these cuts.
Outlay for operation and maintenance of the thorium plant at Mumbai has been reduced from Rs 15 crore to Rs 13 crore. The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, which is developing the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, has been given a puny increase of Rs 1 lakh. Once completed, this facility will for the first time attempt commercial production of energy using thorium, a nuclear fuel found abundantly in India.
Bhavini, which is building the PFBR has also suffered a major cut of Rs 306 crore in budgetary support from Rs 926 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 620 crore in 2008-09.
Even the existing nuclear energy infrastructure appears to be undergoing a resource squeeze at the hands of the Union government.
Capital outlay for the Nuclear Fuels Complex, which produces the crucial uranium oxide fuel and several other components for strategic use, has been cut from Rs 221 crore to Rs 90 crore.
Outlay for the Heavy Water Board too has been cut from Rs 138 crore to Rs 101 crore. Most of India's indigenously developed reactors use heavy water for coolant systems.
The stagnation in nuclear energy output is evident from the huge inventories of nuclear fuel and heavy water that appear to exist, since the Budget projects receipts of over Rs 1,556 crore from fuel outflow to reactors, up from Rs 1,064 in 2007-08.
Receipts from heavy water outflows too are projected to increase from Rs 492 crore to Rs 568 crore. However, this has been turned around to reduce funding to these two crucial links in the nuclear energy production system, thus putting brakes on future expansion and development.
Scientists are shocked at the manner in which some of the R&D institutions have been given a raw deal. The Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, which is at the forefront of research in lasers, particle accelerators and irradiation applications has had its funds trimmed from Rs 115 crore to Rs 112 crore.
Similarly, fund allocation has been cut from Rs 100 crore to about Rs 88 crore for the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata, which developed India's first cyclotron - a particle accelerator - useful in lasers and nanotechnology based applications.
Both these centres have had extensive collaboration with European scientists. Systems developed by these centres have applications for both military and civilian use. Similar cuts have been imposed on the Saha Institute of Physics, Kolkata, Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, and Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar.
Even the allocation for research grants to universities and other institutions has been trimmed.
Cutbacks in financial support to institutions like the Board for Radiation & Isotope Technology (BRIT), which has been producing radioactive isotopes for radiation therapy and diagnostics, and the Tata Memorial Institute, which is a premier centre for cancer research and therapy, will have a negative impact on medical uses of nuclear research. Both have suffered fund cuts in the range of Rs 10 to 12 crore.
(subodh.verma@timesgroup.com)
Thorium plant gets Rs 2 crore less
24 Mar 2008, 0004 hrs IST,Subodh Varma,TNN
NEW DELHI: <span style='font-family:Impact'><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>At a time when the UPA government is projecting nuclear power as the answer to India's future energy needs, allocations for the DAE in the 2008-09 Budget are Rs 1,333 crore less than last year's</span></span>.
A D Damodaran, former head of the Nuclear Fuels Complex, pointed out that a comparison of the outlay and estimated actual expenditure for last year shows that in many cases money has also remained unspent. "Why this slow down? Is it due to avoidable project slippage or was it thrust on DAE under the embargo regime?" he said.
The most important segment of India's long-term strategy for nuclear power â the thorium cycle â could be adversely affected by these cuts.
Outlay for operation and maintenance of the thorium plant at Mumbai has been reduced from Rs 15 crore to Rs 13 crore. The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, which is developing the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, has been given a puny increase of Rs 1 lakh. Once completed, this facility will for the first time attempt commercial production of energy using thorium, a nuclear fuel found abundantly in India.
Bhavini, which is building the PFBR has also suffered a major cut of Rs 306 crore in budgetary support from Rs 926 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 620 crore in 2008-09.
Even the existing nuclear energy infrastructure appears to be undergoing a resource squeeze at the hands of the Union government.
Capital outlay for the Nuclear Fuels Complex, which produces the crucial uranium oxide fuel and several other components for strategic use, has been cut from Rs 221 crore to Rs 90 crore.
Outlay for the Heavy Water Board too has been cut from Rs 138 crore to Rs 101 crore. Most of India's indigenously developed reactors use heavy water for coolant systems.
The stagnation in nuclear energy output is evident from the huge inventories of nuclear fuel and heavy water that appear to exist, since the Budget projects receipts of over Rs 1,556 crore from fuel outflow to reactors, up from Rs 1,064 in 2007-08.
Receipts from heavy water outflows too are projected to increase from Rs 492 crore to Rs 568 crore. However, this has been turned around to reduce funding to these two crucial links in the nuclear energy production system, thus putting brakes on future expansion and development.
Scientists are shocked at the manner in which some of the R&D institutions have been given a raw deal. The Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, which is at the forefront of research in lasers, particle accelerators and irradiation applications has had its funds trimmed from Rs 115 crore to Rs 112 crore.
Similarly, fund allocation has been cut from Rs 100 crore to about Rs 88 crore for the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata, which developed India's first cyclotron - a particle accelerator - useful in lasers and nanotechnology based applications.
Both these centres have had extensive collaboration with European scientists. Systems developed by these centres have applications for both military and civilian use. Similar cuts have been imposed on the Saha Institute of Physics, Kolkata, Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, and Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar.
Even the allocation for research grants to universities and other institutions has been trimmed.
Cutbacks in financial support to institutions like the Board for Radiation & Isotope Technology (BRIT), which has been producing radioactive isotopes for radiation therapy and diagnostics, and the Tata Memorial Institute, which is a premier centre for cancer research and therapy, will have a negative impact on medical uses of nuclear research. Both have suffered fund cuts in the range of Rs 10 to 12 crore.
(subodh.verma@timesgroup.com)