Citation:
T. Woddi, W.S. Charlton, Paul Nelson, Jean Ragusa, “Nuclear Fuel Cycle Assessment of India: A Technical Study for Nuclear Cooperation”, Proceedings of the 29th ESARDA Annual Meeting, Aix-en-Provence, France, May 22-24, 2007.
Abstract:
The recent civil nuclear cooperation proposed by the Bush Administration and Government of India has heightened the necessity of assessing India’s nuclear fuel cycle including nuclear materials and facilities. This agreement proposes to change decades-old-policy which aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons by denying cooperation with non-NPT signatory states. After the nuclear tests carried out by India in 1998, many were convinced that India would never formally and unilaterally cap its nuclear arsenal. This state of affairs drove the desire to approach the nuclear issue through civilian nuclear cooperation. The cornerstone of any civilian nuclear technological support necessitates the separation of military and civilian facilities. A complete nuclear fuel cycle assessment of India was performed to aid in assessing how entwined the military and civilian facilities in India are as well as to move forward with the separation plan. To estimate the existing uranium reserves in India, a complete historical assessment of ore production, conversion, and processing was performed using open source information and compared to independent reports. Nuclear energy and plutonium production (reactor- and weapons-grade) was simulated using declared capacity factors and modern simulation tools. The three stage nuclear power program entities and all the components of civilian and military significance were assembled into a flow-sheet analysis to allow for a macroscopic vision of the Indian fuel cycle. These assessments included historical analysis and future projection with various possibilities of resources used.