Department of Atomic Energy Title: New Atomic Power Plants Date: 27th November, 2014 The XII Five Year Plan proposals envisage start of work of nineteen new nuclear power reactors with a total capacity of 17400 MW. The details are as under: Project Location Capacity (MW) Indigenous Reactors Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana Gorakhpur, Haryana 2 x 700 (GHAVP 1&2) Chutka Madhya Pradesh Atomic Power Chutka, Madhya 2 x 700 Project (CMPAPP 1&2) Pradesh Mahi Banswara, 1&2 Mahi Banswara, 2 x 700 Rajasthan Kaiga 5 &6 Kaiga, Karnataka 2 x 700 Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR 1&2) Kalpakkam, Tamil 2 x 500 Nadu Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) Location to be decided 300 Reactors with Foreign Cooperation Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project Kudankulam, Tamil 2 x 1000 (KKNPP 3&4) Nadu Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP 1&2) Jaitapur, Maharashtra 2 x 1650 Kovvada, 1&2 Kovvada, Andhra 2 x 1500 Pradesh Chhaya Mithi Virdi, 1&2 Chhaya Mithi Virdi, 2 x 1100 Gujarat In respect of the reactors to be set up in the future with international cooperation, necessary provisions will be made in the commercial contracts to ensure fuel supply for the entire lifetime of the reactors. In respect of indigenous reactors, the fuel supply will be ensured from indigenous and imported sources (for reactors to be placed under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safeguards). Decisions on use of indigenous/ imported fuel (after placing them under IAEA Safeguards) in respect of new indigenous reactors will be taken by the government at an appropriate time. This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions and in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today. Title: Power Generation Through Atomic Energy Date: 27th November, 2014 There are 20 Nuclear Power Reactors in the country with a total installed capacity of 4780 MW. In addition, Unit-1 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, in Tamil Nadu with a capacity of 1000 MW was connected to grid in October 2013. It has so far generated 2825 Million Units (MUs) of electricity. The generation of electricity by the nuclear power reactors in the country was 35333 MUs in the year 2013-14, including 1106 Million units from Kudankulam-1. The details are as follows: (i) Additional Protocol with regard to safeguards. (ii) Regional Cooperation Agreement (RCA) with 21 countries in the Asia Pacific Region and the International atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for collaboration in peaceful uses of nuclear energy. (iii) Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP) of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) - for collaboration between IAEA and GCNEP for furthering the objectives of GCNEP. Government plans/proposes to develop and carry forward the nuclear programme in the country. The resources of xenotime, another rare-earth bearing mineral, are negligible in India. AMD has established about 2000 tonnes of xenotime-bearing heavy mineral concentrate containing 2% xenotime in the riverine heavy mineral placer deposits of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Monazite is a mineral mainly containing rare earths and thorium-a prescribed substance to be handled by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). Accordingly, Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IREL) wholly owned by the Govt. of India, under the administrative control of the Dept. of Atomic Energy (DAE) utilises monazite mainly for production of rare earth compounds, and thorium, as needed in the Department of Atomic Energy. This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions and in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today. Title: Thorium Reserves in Country Date: 27th November, 2014 India has reserves of thorium in sufficient quantity as compared to other parts of world. The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), a constituent unit of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), has so far established 11.93 million tonnes of in situ resources Monazite (Thorium bearing mineral) in the country, which contains about 1.07 million tonnes of thorium. The state- wise resources of in situ monazite established by AMD as of September 2014 are as follows: State Monazite (Million tonnes) Odisha 2.41 Andhra Pradesh 3.72 Tamil Nadu 2.46 Kerala 1.90 West Bengal 1.22 Jharkhand 0.22 Total 11.93 Both Uranium and Thorium have got distinctive characteristics governing their utilisation in nuclear reactors. Unlike uranium, thorium alone cannot be directly used as nuclear fuel in a reactor. Utilisation of Thorium with either uranium or plutonium, without going through the second stage of Fast Breeder Reactors, to build sufficient inventory of plutonium first, will be counter-productive by limiting thorium utilisation to a very small fraction of the total available resources in the country. Utilisation of Thorium in the third stage makes it available as a sustainable energy resource for centuries. With this mode of utilisation, Thorium offers not only a sustainable energy resource, but also excellent fuel performance characteristic in a reactor, better than Uranium with respect to lower inventory of long lived nuclear waste. The three stage Indian nuclear programme was formulated at the inception of the DAE and has as its main stay objective of utilisation of large resources of Thorium in a sustainable manner. As explained above, Thorium cannot be used for overcoming power crisis in the short term. This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions and in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today. Title: Deposits of Rare Earths Date: 27th November, 2014 Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), a constitute unit of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has estimated the presence of 11.93 million tonnes of monazite resources in the beach sand mineral placer deposits along the coastal tracts of India. Monazite in general, contains about 55 – 60% total Rare Earth Oxide. The state-wise resources of in situ monazite established by AMD so far are as follows: State Monazite (Million tonne) Odisha 2.41 Andhra Pradesh 3.72 Tamil Nadu 2.46 Kerala 1.90 West Bengal 1.22 Jharkhand 0.22 Total 11.93 The resources of xenotime, another rare-earth bearing mineral, are negligible in India. AMD has established about 2000 tonnes of xenotime-bearing heavy mineral concentrate containing 2% xenotime in the riverine heavy mineral placer deposits of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Monazite is a mineral mainly containing rare earths and thorium-a prescribed substance to be handled by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). Accordingly, Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IREL) wholly owned by the Govt. of India, under the administrative control of the Dept. of Atomic Energy (DAE) utilises monazite mainly for production of rare earth compounds, and thorium, as needed in the Department of Atomic Energy. This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions and in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today. Title: Stagnation in Agricultural Production Date: 28th November, 2014 Over the years, the production of major agricultural crops in the country has been generally increasing, except in the years of adverse conditions of monsoon rainfall such as drought, flood and extreme temperature conditions etc. To increase agricultural production in the country to meet the needs of growing population and to curb the prices of agricultural commodities, Government of India has been implementing various Crop Development Schemes/Programmes such as National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI), etc. Further, to increase productivity and production of agricultural crops in the country, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is having research and development programmes in rice, wheat, maize, millets, fodder crops, oilseeds, pulses, sugarcane, cotton, etc. These research programmes are undertaken by 26 commodity/theme based Research Institutions and 33 All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRPs) & All India Network Projects (AINPs) to develop location-specific crop varieties and matching technologies as per the agro-ecological needs. The crop improvement programmes give emphasis on development of new crop varieties/hybrids with improved quality and tolerance/resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Besides above, to encourage farmers to increase agricultural production by ensuring remunerative prices for their produce, the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) of agricultural commodities have also been increased over the years. This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture Shri Mohanbhai Kundaria in the Rajya Sabha today. GG: SB:CP: stagnation (rajya) 28.11.2014 Title: Decline in Sowing of Oilseed Date: 28th November, 2014 In Maharashtra, the area coverage under oilseeds during kharif 2014 was higher than normal Kharif area under oilseeds in the State. However, at all India level, kharif coverage of oilseeds was lower than normal kharif area due to late onset of monsoon and drought like situation in various States. Rabi sowing of oilseeds is in progress. The normal and current year area coverage of oilseeds in respect of Maharashtra and all India are given below:- (lakh hectare) Year Maharashtra All India Kharif Rabi Kharif Rabi Normal 35.58 3.3 185.8 83.2 2014-15* 39.14 0.4 176.8 54.0 * Area coverage, as on 13/11/2014 As per the 1st advance estimates, all India oilseeds production during kharif 2014 is estimated to be 196.64 lakh tonnes against target of 218.30 lakh tonnes. The target of production of oilseeds in rabi season is 111.70 lakh tonnes. Sowing in rabi season is in progress.