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India Nuclear Energy Summit 2011

September 8th & 9th, 2011, Mumbai, India

MUMBAI, INDIA, 08-09 SEPTEMBER 2011 – India has uniquely been developing a nuclear fuel cycle to exploit its reserves of thorium and has a vision of becoming a world leader in nuclear technology due to its expertise in fast reactors and the thorium fuel cycle.

On the 8th and 9th of September, Noppen hosted the India Nuclear Energy Summit 2011 which took place in the JW Marriott Hotel, Mumbai, India. In attendance was over xxx prominent industry leaders and government officials from across the globe providing informative and inspiring discussions pertaining to India's current needs and their ambitious future. “Nicely organized based on Indian Nuclear programme and suppliers. Very useful and informative.” Velan Valves India Pvt Ltd

The conference began with an opening speech delivered by the conference Chairman, Mr. S.K. Mehta, Advisor to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and Former Director of Reactor Group, Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre (BARC). Shortly after his speech, keynote speaker Mr. Arun Srivastava, Secretary, Atomic Energy Commission wowed the attendees with his expert knowledge on nuclear energy and its future outlook. His presentation consisted of providing an overview of the nuclear energy sector in the context of the world and India. He specified that there are a couple of factors which are required for Nuclear Energy growth in India including strong political support, commitment for life and involvement of civil society etc. Furthermore he went to explain why India should opt for nuclear energy and that a benefit of using nuclear as India’s power source is that it will be available for multiple centuries. Other benefits he included were that nuclear energy does not emit green house gases; its safety record is superior among major energy resources, it is virtually pollution free, its use will help in preserving precious fossil resources for future generations, its costs are competitive and declining and that its waste can be securely managed over the long term. His presentation was well received and all attendees found the information both informative and interesting. After learning about nuclear energy and its future outlook, the attendees were then educated on the Indian Nuclear Power Programme by Mr. S. Thakur, Distinguished Scientist and Fellow, NPCIL. He too was a keynote speaker at the conference and informed the delegates that currently there are 20 reactors and 6 sites in operation and several NPPs under construction with the capacity of 5,300MWe using various reactors such as LWR, PFBR, and PHWR. He mentioned that there are also possible projects that could last until 2020 with a potential capacity of 15,500. His presentation was fascinating and he concluded by stating India is in a strong position for nuclear energy which is emphasized through India’s nuclear agreements with many countries, support and linkages with R&D institutions, safeguards agreement with IAEA and international co-operation within the nuclear sector. Shortly after Mr. S. Thakur’s presentation, Mr. V.P. Raja, Chairman of MERC spoke on the topic of policy issues for nuclear power development in India. His speech was thoroughly enjoyed by all attendees and he made many key points of interest, including ‘communicating science’. He pointed out that in order for the public to understand and accept nuclear energy, the government and regulators has to communicate with the public in an appropriate manner and in the right context. The event was managed with excellence. “There were several speakers who were eloquent and presentations were informative. Organizers ensured key networking opportunities.” Engineers India Also on the morning of day one, keynote speaker Mr. G.R. Srinivasan, Advisor – Nuclear Power Business, GMR Energy Ltd gave some what of a different perspective on nuclear energy and spoke about the challenges and issues of nuclear energy and one of them is to improve the present international regimes in order to enable greater access to nuclear for emerging economies and the other concern is public acceptance. Lessons learned post Fukushima incident are three fundamental safety functions for a nuclear power plant that are capable to shutdown, to cool fuel, and to maintain confinement/containment. “The meeting was well streamlined with a right mix of talks on issues concerning muclear power. The logistics were excellently handled by Lnoppen.”Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

In the afternoon of day one Mr. S.K. Sharma, Former Chairman of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board gave a presentation with a number of key points, he said robust defenses are needed by way of design measures against natural events, especially those whose magnitude may be more than what was considered in design; defining the magnitude of BDBE is a real challenge. Another point is experience shows that complete loss of power supply can create serious safety problems at a nuclear power plant leaving operators virtually helpless; appropriate provisions are definitely needed for this eventuality. There are a number of lessons to be learned from Fukushima experience not only by designers, operators and technical support personnel, but also by the regulators. He also said that the world nuclear community would do well, as it has demonstrated in the past, to make best use of this experience to further enhance nuclear power plant safety by several notches. He concluded that the Fukushima accident is a wake up call which reminds us that there is no room for complacency in the nuclear enterprise. ”Excellent choice of topics and speakers. The feature of facilitating B2B meetings is very valuable.” Canadian Consulate

Day two of the conference was just as riveting as the first, with a number of important topics being discussed; stand out presentations came from keynote speaker Mr. K.J. Sebastian, Managing Director, Power Age Engineering Consultants. His presented upon the economics of nuclear power and stated that nuclear power economics revolves around capital cost of the plant, cost of operation and management, and cost of decommissioning. He pointed out that in terms of operation and management, one needs to efficiently control fuel management and waste management. He ended by saying that India has huge potential for nuclear power growth especially since that economic competitiveness of nuclear power has been established in India. However, in order to sustain and improve the competitiveness, controlling the cost of capital of power plants is imperative and enhancing the plant load factor of the power plant. In the afternoon of day two Dr. K.C. Pillai, Former Head, Health Physics Division, B.A.R.C took to the podium and had many informative points to share with the attendees. He said among the general public, nuclear energy faces a unique problem of perception especially with respect to radioactivity and radiation control aspects. It is necessary that everyone gets some basic understanding about what radiation-ionizing radiation is, how it affects you and how man can be protected without curtailing its beneficial uses. From the results of monitoring of occupational workers in the operating nuclear power plants of India, it is clear that radiation exposures are well below the limits prescribed for occupational workers by AERB / ICRP. The public exposure of population living even at 1.6 km from nuclear power plant sites are only a very small fraction of the limits prescribed for individuals in the public domain. “The summit 2011 has been informative and provided the platform to interact with the industry players. Thanks for the opportunity.”Rolta India

Other notable speakers at the event came from reputed companies such as Tectubi Raccordi SpA, Flowserve Group, Walchand Industries Ltd., Radiy, Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd., Heavy Water Board, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd., Institute for Defense Studies & Analyses, Atlas Copco and CANDU Owners Group. The event was managed with excellence. “There were several speakers who were eloquent and presentations were informative. Organizers ensured key networking opportunities.” Engineers India

Noppen would like to express a special thanks to all the India Nuclear Energy Summit 2011 who helped make it an extraordinary event including Tectubi Raccordi Spa, Atlas Copco India Ltd., Flowserve Corporation, Radiy, KSB Pumps Ltd., Onet Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., Rider Levett Bucknall, Velan Valves India Pvt Ltd., Kabelwerk Eupen AG, Edgen Murray Corporation, Escorts Contruction Equipment Ltd., ATB Riva Calzoni S.p.A, Chandan Steel Ltd., Acroni (Kirtanlal & Sons), UGITEC SA and Sarens Heavy Lift India Pvt Ltd.

India Nuclear Energy Summit 2011

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