Despite uncertainty over the passage of the US-India Civilian Nuclear Cooperation bill in the Senate, India seems to be gearing up to ready itself for better use of technology for nuclear power plants for electricity generation.
A high-level delegation comprising 18 top executives from the National Thermal Power Corporation and two management professors from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, visited the United States last month to attend a week-long electric power programme held under the auspices of the University of Houston.
"Issues relating to various technologies were discussed, including coal/lignite, natural gas/combined-cycle and nuclear power plants. Nuclear technology, however, was of particular interest to NTPC executives as they envision new nuclear power plants as a way to add the needed electric power to sustain the projected GDP growth," professor Anil Prasad, who teaches power industry economics to MBA students and working professionals at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, in Houston, Texas, told rediff.com.
Among the issues discussed were nuclear project development and construction time, the environmental and safety issues, and the fuel issues.
"The general belief on both sides is that the Indo-US agreement will pave the way for better future collaboration between the two countries," said Prasad, who took the initiative in organising the event.
Top executives from equipment manufacturers like GE, Siemens, Westinghouse and Areva were present at the programme that consisted of both classroom activities and visit to power plants, including nuclear plants.
"The delegation also visited the South Texas project nuclear plant for a first-hand training and exposure in latest technology," Prasad said.
He said although the nuclear deal is yet to be ratified by the Senate, there were hopes that everything would work out.
Prasad also organised and led the group to tour the Big Brown lignite power plant and mine, the STP nuclear plant and Calpine's Pasadena, Texas, facility. The group discussed the staffing, fuel handling, operations and maintenance, safety and environmental considerations for each of the plants, among others.
Prasad said although NTPC is the largest power generator in India and is familiar with operation of power plants, it wanted to familiarise itself with the latest technologies.
For example, they were struck by the absence of a fence at the Big Brown plant. In India, companies spent a lot money on a fence or a wall, the executives said.
Prasad said the lessons the executives took were very important in view of the expected passage of the nuclear bill. "If this bill is passed, I think India will think of coming up with nuclear power plants for electricity."
"Safety, for example, is very important in power generation; in nuclear plants it is much more important. They have a different way of addressing that. Training is also important. They noticed that in nuclear facilities, training goes hand in hand with safety," Prasad said.
"People go through training here much more frequently than they had thought. I think they will be able to use all those ideas in developing new projects in India more efficiently once this bill comes through."
