Nuclear energy to fuel Indian Railways in the future?

Forget missiles and rockets nuclear energy could soon be fuelling your local and long distance trains if things go as planned The Indian Railways IR is toying with the idea of using nuclear power to compliment their power system and is in talks with the Department of Atomic Energy DAE as well Change in the offing At present railway lines across the country get electricity from a national grid where generated power is first pooled in and then distributed among different states For nuclear energy to fuel trains a separate grid has to be set up especially for the railways File pic On September 13 the members from Railway Board headed by Member Electrical Kul Bhushan had a meeting with DAE officials Sources in the railways said that they are keen on setting up a nuclear power plant in the future ldquoWe want to look at the option of using nuclear power for our railway system and so discussed with DAE the construction of an exclusive nuclear plant in the futurerdquo said a senior railway official The government is already facing vehement opposition from locals and antinuclear activists over land acquisition and the possible illeffects of two major nuclear plants at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra and Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu The DAE has the authority to set up nuclear plants for the railways to generate power for its trains Railway officials added that the nuclear plant could be set up in any state of India In Mumbai the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre BARC operates nuclear plants At present railway lines across the country get their supply of electricity from a national grid where generated power is first pooled in and then distributed among different states For nuclear energy to fuel trains a separate grid has to be set up especially for the railways ldquoOnce the power is generated it can be distributed through substations of Indian Railways which would then feed overhead cables that supplies electricity to trainsrdquo explained a senior railway official admitting that the cost of setting up these nuclear power plants and establishing an isolated independent system would incur heavy costs SK Malhotra head of the public awareness in DAE said ldquoThe railways has shown interest in a dedicated power plant There have been meetings but no MoU has been signed yet Sources claimed that they are presently checking the possibility of an inprincipal agreement between the two and are identifying a suitable location for the plant Rs 8000 The cashstrapped railways spent this amount on electricity bill in last fiscal while its diesel bill was around R15000 crore Did you know Trains railway stations yards workshops and other units of the Indian Railways use electricity generated by state electricity boards The railways in Mumbai get more than 300 megawatt from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd MSEDCL and Tata Power Trains in UK will run on Nuclear Power soon According to reports the company that runs the railway infrastructure across most of the UK will rely on nuclear power to keep the trains running on time and reduce carbon dioxide emissions over the next decade The privately held governmentbacked rail operator ndash which is Britainrsquos single largest consumer of electricity ndash has struck a 10year deal with Frenchowned EDF to provide the power that will enable it to expand the electrification of its lines and reduce the number of CO2spewing dieselpowered trains that run on Network Railrsquos tracks Experts speak Prof Bharat Karnadu00a0Centre for Policy Research former Member of the Nuclear Doctrine Drafting Group Dedicated source of power through nuclear energy is certainly a viable and wonderful solution Until now the Indian government has remained shortsighted and unimaginative about use of nuclear energy due to fear of agitations S Khened Director Nehru Science Centre At a time when demand for electricity is surging even for the railways nuclear power is good option Normally itrsquos the optimal mix to obtain power from thermal coal nuclear hydel water and solar energy Under the present circumstances due to constant oppositions only four per cent of power is generated through nuclear energy Nuclear safety mechanisms can be built while setting up these nuclear plantsu00a0