Thorium Will Increase Energy Resources By 155,000 Years, Says India's Banerjee

The Paris International Conference on Access to Civil Nuclear Energy focussed on examining future energy needs and the different kinds of nuclear technologies to deal with those needs, both now and in the future. Indeed, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expects energy demand to increase by 40% by 2030. Dr. Khaled Toukan, the chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, stated that global energy demand is in the process of doubling between 1990 and 2030. It is in this context that 43 new countries are considering acquiring nuclear reactors and 25 others have shown interest in doing so.

Unfortunately, however, no doubt due to the financial crisis, the question of extending considerably the line of the present nuclear facilities is high on the agenda and much energy will be wasted in extending the lives of current nuclear reactors rather than building new and more efficient ones. Bernard Bigot, Chairman of the French Atomic Energy and Renewable Energies Commission told the panel on "The Medium- And Long-Term Outlook For Nuclear Power," that "the extension of the operational life of nuclear installations beyond 35-40 years whilst maintaining the highest safety levels is a major economic issue," and studies will be conducted on the aging equipment, as well as R&D on nuclear fuels aimed at optimizing the current pressurized hot water reactors (PHWR). Most indicative of this economic predicament was the statement by Warren Pete Miller, special advisor to U.S. President Obama on nuclear energy, who declared that one of the five strategic imperatives for the U.S., is to extend the life of the 104 American nuclear reactors to 60, even 80 years, if that can be done safely!

While some speakers, including Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the OECD's International Energy Agency, which co-hosted the conference, insisted on the fact that the next 20 years will be reserved entirely for third-generation reactors, Bigot clearly stated that beyond extending the life of the present reactors, the priority is to "prepare nuclear technology by coming up with the means to develop Generation IV systems which can produce 100 times more energy" by drawing the maximum potential from uranium and using the plutonium produced by the reaction. Note that most of the countries involved in this conference are coordinating this effort in the Generation IV international forum, even though for most of these countries it has not been until now a kind of life or death issue.

In terms of the future, however, it was Srikumar Banerjee, chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) who stole the show in his remarks to the panel on "Nuclear and Energy Mix in a Perspective of Durable Development." Taking off from previous speeches stating that there are currently 56 new nuclear power plants under construction, Dr. Banerjee noted polemically that this only represents a 1%-2% growth annually, while India and other developing sector nations need at minimum 10% annual growth to provide electricity to millions of poor. Dr. Banerjee presented India's ambitious three-stage nuclear program. The country is moving rapidly from Phase 1 — 17 reactors (15 PHWR and 2 boiling water) in use, plus 5 under construction (3 PHWR and 2 LWR) at three different sites — to Phase 2, where it will shift to liquid sodium-cooled fast breeder reactors. The use of fast breeders, which produce more fuel than they consume, will enlarge the scope of fission resources for humanity until the end of this century, said Dr. Banerjee, but not enough to go beyond. This is why India's third phase of nuclear development is the development of advanced heavy water reactors using thorium as fuel. Since thorium is three times more abundant than uranium, this process will extend the life of that resource to 155,000 years, said M. Banerjee.

That resources are scarce is something that we know for 40 years, said Dr. Banerjee polemically, but we have done nothing to solve the problem. We have been waiting for a miracle to happen and that miracle has not happened. He called for international support of India's thorium project to deal with that problem. He was very happy to answer a question from Nouvelle Solidarité Editor Christine Bierre, on the need to move aggressively towards such more efficient technologies, in the particular the pebble bed reactor (PBMR), to give humanity an adequate energy base, rather than extending the life of much less efficient power stations and sticking to the third generation EPR.