PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA DEPARTMENT-RELATEDPARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT & FORESTS ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-SIXTH REPORT ON DEMANDS FOR GRANTS (2007-2008) OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY (DEMAND NOs. 5 & 6) (PRESENTED TO THE RAJYA SABHA ON 26TH APRIL, 2007) (LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA ON 26TH APRIL, 2007) RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI APRIL, 2007/VAISAKHA, 1929 (SAKA) Email: [email protected] Website : http://rajyasabha.nic.in C O N T E N T S 1. COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE 2. INTRODUCTION 3. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 4. SUMMARY OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS 5. MINUTESOFTHEMEETINGSOFTHECOMMITTEE COMPOSITION OF THE DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (YEAR 2006) 1. Shri P.G. Narayanan –– Chairman RAJYA SABHA 2. Dr.Prabha Thakur # 3. Vacant 4. Shri Suryakantbhai Acharya 5. Shri Bhagirathi Majhi 6. Shri Kamal Akhtar 7. Shri Saman Pathak 8. Shri Jabir Husain 9. Shri Ravula Chandra Sekar Reddy 10. Dr. Barun Mukherjee LOK SABHA 11. Shri Jashubhai Dhanabhai Barad 12. Dr. Sujan Chakraborty 13. Shri Thupstan Chhewang 14. Shri Pankaj Chaudhary 15. Shri Francis Fanthome 16. Shri Babubhai K. Katara 17. Shri A. Venkatesh Naik 18. Shri Brahmananda Panda 19. Smt. Neeta Pateriya 20. Shri Jaysingrao Gaikwad Patil 21. Shri Pratik Prakashbapu Patil 22. Shri Bachi Singh ‘Bachda’ Rawat 23. Shri K.C. Singh “Baba” 24. Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh 25. Shri Rakesh Singh 26. Shri Aruna Kumar Vundavalli 27. Smt. Jayaben B. Thakkar 28. Shri Akhilesh Yadav 29. Shri Mitrasen Yadav 30. Shri Sita Ram Yadav *31. Shri Rampal Singh SECRETARIAT Shri N.C. Joshi, Additional Secretary Shri R.K. Singh, Officer on Special Duty Shri Alok Kumar Chatterjee, Deputy Secretary Shri Jagmohan Sundriyal, Under Secretary Shri S. Rangarajan, Committee Officer INTRODUCTION I, the Chairman of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests, having been authorised by the Committee to present the Report on its behalf, present this One Hundred Seventy-sixth Report of the Committee. This Report deals with the detailed Demands for Grants (2007-2008) of the Department of Atomic Energy (Demand Nos. 5&6). 2. In the meeting of the Committee held on 2nd April, 2007 the Secretary and other Officers of the Department of Atomic Energy gave an overview of the various activities of the Department and the Members sought clarifications on various aspects of the performance of the Department to enable it to scrutinise the Demands for Grants. 3. The Committee expresses its thanks to the Officers of the Department for replying to the clarifications sought by the Members and placing before it the required material to enable the Committee to scrutinise the Demands for Grants of the Department of Atomic Energy. 4. The Committee considered and adopted the Report at its meeting held on the 20th April, 2007. NEW DELHI; P.G.NARAYANAN April 20, 2007 Chairman, Department- related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests REPORT The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) is the apex body for formulation of policies and direction of the programmes relating to peaceful uses of atomic energy in electricity generation, medicine, agriculture and industry. The Commission implements its policies and programmes through the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). 2. DAE is engaged in research, technology development and commercial operations in the areas of nuclear energy, high technologies and supports basic research. The DAE’s mandate is as follows: • Production of safe and economical nuclear power, using indigenous uranium and thorium resources. Towards this end, it is involved in developing in stages, pressurised heavy water reactors, fast breeder reactors and thorium reactors with associated fuel cycle facilities; • Building and operation of research reactors for the production of radioisotopes and carrying out programmes on isotope and radiation technology applications in medicine, agriculture and industry; • Development in advanced technology areas such as accelerators, lasers, super computers, advanced materials and instrumentation and encouragement to transfer technology to industry; • Support to basic research in nuclear energy and related frontier areas of Science; interaction with universities and academic institutions; • Support to research and development projects having a bearing on DAE’s programmes and international cooperation in related advanced areas of research, and • Enrich University System through beneficial interaction with the system. • Contribution to national security. 3. The plan projects of the DAE are classified under broad major programmes relating to various fields of activities. The major programmes can be further sub-divided to form cluster of similarly placed projects in convenient groups. In line with its mandate, DAE has formulated its activities under a set of major programmes (MP) as follows: Major Programme – 1 : Nuclear Power Programme - Stage 1. (Natural uranium fuelled Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors - PHWRs - and associated front and back end Fuel Cycle Facilities). Major Programme – 2 : Nuclear Power Programme - Stage 2. (Envisages setting up of Fast Breeder Reactors - FBRs - backed by reprocessing plants and plutonium based Fuel Fabrication Plants). Major Programme – 3 : Nuclear Power Programme - Stage 3 - and Beyond. (Based on Thorium Reactors) Major Programme – 4 : Advanced Technologies and Radiation Technologies and their Applications. Major Programme – 5 : (Basic Research) Major Programme – 6 : (Research Educational Linkage). Major Programme – 7 : (Infrastructure and Housing) 4. DAE’s Plan programmes are multidisciplinary in nature. For their execution, DAE has evolved as a broad based organisation comprising research centres, industrial units, public sector undertakings and fully aided autonomous institutions, along with service organisations. These organisations are engaged in research, technology development and commercial operations in the areas of nuclear power and associated technologies, radiation technologies and their applications, and basic research. These also enrich university system through beneficial interaction with the system. 5. DAE has under its aegis – 5.1 Five Research Centres : - Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) – Mumbai, - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) – Kalpakkam, - Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) – Indore - Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) – Kolkata, - Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) – Hyderabad. 5.2 Three Industrial Organisations : - Heavy Water Board (HWB) – Mumbai - Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) – Hyderabad - Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT) – Mumbai. 5.3. Three Service Organisations: - Directorate of Purchase & Stores (DPS) – Mumbai - Directorate of Construction, Services and Estate Management (DCSEM) – Mumbai - General Services Organisation (GSO) – Kalpakkam. 5.4 Five Public Sector Undertakings : - Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) – Mumbai - Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd., Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu - Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL) – Jaduguda - Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IREL) – Mumbai - Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL) – Hyderabad. 5.5 Eight Aided Institutions : - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) – Mumbai - Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) – Mumbai - Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) – Kolkata - Institute of Physics (IOP) – Bhubaneshwar - Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) – Allahabad - Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) – Chennai - Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) – Ahmedabad - Atomic Energy Education Society (AEES) – Mumbai 5.6 In addition to the above, DAE, through Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) and National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) promotes research in nuclear and allied fields and mathematics, respectively. 6. The Programmes of DAE have been divided into the following Sectors for the purpose of allocation of funds: 6.1 Research and Development Sector 6.1.1 This Sector includes research support for nuclear power programme as well as research and development in non-electricity areas. It covers research and development for new power reactor concepts and long term research, radioisotope technology with applications in medicine, agriculture, industry and research; advanced technologies relating to accelerator, laser, computers, materials and others, and basic and applied research in frontier areas of science and technology. 6.2 Industries and Minerals Sector 6.2.1 This Sector covers the programmes relating to the industrial units carrying out nuclear fuel cycle activities and industrial applications of nuclear energy in non-electricity fields. 6.2.2 The Nuclear Fuel Cycle programme covers industrial activities which are ancillary to the nuclear power sector and comprises design, construction and operation of industrial plants for ore refining, fuel fabrication, heavy water production and others. 6.2.3 The programme relating to the Industrial Applications of Nuclear Energy in the non- electricity fields addresses applications of radioisotope, laser and accelerator technologies in medicine, food preservation, agriculture, industry and other such areas. 6.3 Power Sector 6.3.1 This Sector deals with the generation of electricity on commercial basis. It covers design, construction and operation of pressurized heavy water reactors, fast breeder reactors and