In the course of a technical review, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has found that the original set of computer systems accompanying French nuclear major Areva’s EPR reactor units need “further reinforcement” to meet the regulatory requirements. A set of two EPR units are to be deployed in the first phase of the project at Jaitapur in coastal Maharashtra which could ultimately house six such reactor units to emerge as the largest nuclear power station in the world. Accordingly, modifications of computer-based system for the ‘Control and Instrumentation architecture’ package of the twin EPR units (formerly called European Pressurised Reactor) to be deployed at Jaitapur has been sought to meet all safety and regulatory requirements of the regulator (the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board), a government official involved in the exercise said. The control and instrumentation system essentially monitors and controls the station’s performance and oversees overall nuclear safety. The official said that Areva has conveyed its commitment to address the concerns. Similar observations with respect to the control and instrumentation package accompanying the EPR — a third generation pressurised water reactor design — were expressed by other atomic sector regulators such as the NRC (US), STUK (Finland), HSE (UK), ASN (France). An e-mail questionnaire on the issue sent to Areva India on February 1 remained unanswered. Currently, four EPR units are under construction. The first two, in Finland and France, are facing costly construction delays. Construction commenced on two additional Chinese units in 2009 and 2010. At present, for the Jaitapur project, techno-commercial negotiations between NPCIL and Areva for setting up 2x1650 MWe (mega watt electrical) EPRs are in progress. While long-running opposition to the proposed project has intensified in the wake of the nuclear incident in Japan, government officials express confidence that the construction of the first phase will start early into the 12th Plan period commencing April 2012. The gestation period (from first pour of concrete to commercial operation) of the EPRs is about 66 months. Discussions between NPCIL and Areva are in final stages to evolve a business model of shared scope of work so as to arrive at a viable tariff comparable to that of contemporary electricity generating plants in the region. ‘Extra features won’t impact cost much’ The additional safety features recommended in the French Safety Authority or ASN’s report for the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), which India plans to import for the proposed Jaitapur project, is not likely to have any major impact on the project cost, said Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) after an initial review of the report. The ASN recently released the safety assessment report of its nuclear plants, which is being reviewed by NPCIL. The assessments were done post-Fukushima. “The report indicates that EPR has several evolutionary safety features, which had evolved through operating experience. The lessons learned from past nuclear accident had been incorporated into the design. EPR design has features for prevention and mitigation of severe accidents such as core catcher etc. It has aircraft/missile resistant containment for reactor building and fuel building, which allows much higher margin to sustain natural calamity of higher order,” said an NPCIL official.