Chitradurga could of course be used to produce slightly enriched uranium (SEU) with about 1.1 per cent U-235 content to fuel our pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) units which would boost the fuel burn-up to as much as 20000 MWd/tonne.
Chitradurga will come a little later, not immediately. Our Ratnahalli plant capacity has been enhanced. But more than that, there is significant improvement in our technology. Usually, a term called Separating Work Units (SWUs) defines the technology level that we have achieved in this, and I can assure you that there has been considerable improvement in SWUs of our next generation caskets of centrifuges. The separating capacity of our centrifuges has improved. So total capacity enhancement at Ratnahalli has been done. We are confident of supplying the entire fuel for the set ofââ¬Â¦.
You cannot say anymore that India does not have enrichment technology. India has its own technology and we can produce [enriched uranium]. We have not started doing it for large-scale commercial nuclear power stations, which require a much larger quantity of enriched uranium. We will be able to do that once we go to Chitradurga.
Taking this forward. Russians used sub-critical centrifuges for the most part up until 2010. Their philosophy was different to Urenco which wanted more SWU/yr and pushed into more expensive but more reliable carbon fiber deigns. The Russians had super-critical centrifuges from 1959 if I am not mistaken. They however used sub-critical for mass production of reactor feed. The Russians have followed this path even today. Their 2010 Super-Critical designs are still not carbon fiber only. They use metal enclosed in carbon fiber. This will help mass production, keep the costs low. So any damaged centrifuges are cheaper to replace instead of higher reliability.
If we really go with the Russian design philosophy we might have the older generation centrifuges in Chitradurga. Or we might move some of the older generation centrifuges to Chitradurga and add a mixed blend of super-critical cascades too. Our orders for the centrifuges in 2005 were for machine crafted components with bellows. These bellows indicate super-critical centrifuges. It might also make sense to give follow-on orders to these folks for the new plant given their investment to meet our initial orders. These are super-critical as well. So Chitradurga might have 20 SWU/yr units older units being moved out of RMP as well. Some carbon-fiber units might be placed there as well. carbon-fiber units are more expensive and initially I think we might just want industrial scale mass movement of SEU out of Chitradurga just like the Russians. Cutting edge isn't the concern. Getting a lot of SEU out is. So it's interesting. These older units may well be replaced if they wear out with newer ones as and when this happens and it might be cheaper given the already existing supply chain as of 2005/2006.
Of course as always these are extrapolations based on the Russian path. I am not sure what the Indian path is to SEU on a large scale. However the indications are we want cheap industrial scale civil capacity. This might well be the economical route for us. So this is a civil facility for all intends and purposes and will serve the civil program. It's out of safeguards to prevent estimates of our nuclear weapons program in numbers and the submarines planned. It's also likely that we don't want the world to see the technology used in these plants. It might looks like some other centrifuges. These designs are possibly different from the Urenco ones or quiet close to them. There may be some unique twists in our centrifuges which make them more reliable or cheaper to produce or both. So this should set those inquisitive minds at ease as to the Chitradurga being for nukes. I don't think this is for the strategic program.
We also can glean from this that RMP centrifuges have undergone a SWU enhancements and additional centrifuges. So numbers and technology So those old unit's are likely headed to Chitradurga with additional new units of unknown technology and generation. Interesting. I have tried to connect the dots. As always any mistakes are mine. I have combined two news reports to get to the base. The person who gave these interviews is the same. So this should serve as a good tea leaf read to help arrive at the capacity.
Maybe the RMP estimates are at the lower end if this numbers and technology upgrade is considered. If our nuclear weapons program isn't really HEU based this can only mean one thing ... We don't know if it is HEU dependent ...
Chitradurga will come a little later, not immediately. Our Ratnahalli plant capacity has been enhanced. But more than that, there is significant improvement in our technology. Usually, a term called Separating Work Units (SWUs) defines the technology level that we have achieved in this, and I can assure you that there has been considerable improvement in SWUs of our next generation caskets of centrifuges. The separating capacity of our centrifuges has improved. So total capacity enhancement at Ratnahalli has been done. We are confident of supplying the entire fuel for the set ofââ¬Â¦.
You cannot say anymore that India does not have enrichment technology. India has its own technology and we can produce [enriched uranium]. We have not started doing it for large-scale commercial nuclear power stations, which require a much larger quantity of enriched uranium. We will be able to do that once we go to Chitradurga.
Taking this forward. Russians used sub-critical centrifuges for the most part up until 2010. Their philosophy was different to Urenco which wanted more SWU/yr and pushed into more expensive but more reliable carbon fiber deigns. The Russians had super-critical centrifuges from 1959 if I am not mistaken. They however used sub-critical for mass production of reactor feed. The Russians have followed this path even today. Their 2010 Super-Critical designs are still not carbon fiber only. They use metal enclosed in carbon fiber. This will help mass production, keep the costs low. So any damaged centrifuges are cheaper to replace instead of higher reliability.
If we really go with the Russian design philosophy we might have the older generation centrifuges in Chitradurga. Or we might move some of the older generation centrifuges to Chitradurga and add a mixed blend of super-critical cascades too. Our orders for the centrifuges in 2005 were for machine crafted components with bellows. These bellows indicate super-critical centrifuges. It might also make sense to give follow-on orders to these folks for the new plant given their investment to meet our initial orders. These are super-critical as well. So Chitradurga might have 20 SWU/yr units older units being moved out of RMP as well. Some carbon-fiber units might be placed there as well. carbon-fiber units are more expensive and initially I think we might just want industrial scale mass movement of SEU out of Chitradurga just like the Russians. Cutting edge isn't the concern. Getting a lot of SEU out is. So it's interesting. These older units may well be replaced if they wear out with newer ones as and when this happens and it might be cheaper given the already existing supply chain as of 2005/2006.
Of course as always these are extrapolations based on the Russian path. I am not sure what the Indian path is to SEU on a large scale. However the indications are we want cheap industrial scale civil capacity. This might well be the economical route for us. So this is a civil facility for all intends and purposes and will serve the civil program. It's out of safeguards to prevent estimates of our nuclear weapons program in numbers and the submarines planned. It's also likely that we don't want the world to see the technology used in these plants. It might looks like some other centrifuges. These designs are possibly different from the Urenco ones or quiet close to them. There may be some unique twists in our centrifuges which make them more reliable or cheaper to produce or both. So this should set those inquisitive minds at ease as to the Chitradurga being for nukes. I don't think this is for the strategic program.
We also can glean from this that RMP centrifuges have undergone a SWU enhancements and additional centrifuges. So numbers and technology So those old unit's are likely headed to Chitradurga with additional new units of unknown technology and generation. Interesting. I have tried to connect the dots. As always any mistakes are mine. I have combined two news reports to get to the base. The person who gave these interviews is the same. So this should serve as a good tea leaf read to help arrive at the capacity.
Maybe the RMP estimates are at the lower end if this numbers and technology upgrade is considered. If our nuclear weapons program isn't really HEU based this can only mean one thing ... We don't know if it is HEU dependent ...