NEW DELHI, Aug 7: NITI Aayog member and scientist V. K. Saraswat on Sunday suggested that the government should focus on setting up small modular reactors as it would help meet India’s energy needs and also in replacing aging thermal power plants.
Saraswat also said nuclear power plant projects which have been set up under the fleet mode production, should be accelerated, so that India is able to meet base load requirements at the earliest.
“We are suggesting that in future we should go for small modular reactors which will be able to meet this (energy) requirements in a distributed manner.”
“And we are also thinking that it will be the best approach for replacing the aging thermal power plants,” he said in an interview.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.
Under the fleet mode, a nuclear power plant is expected to be built over a period of five years from the first pour of concrete.
According to Saraswat, the advantage of an advanced modular reactor is that it is factory fabricated and can be operated by any agency and there could also be a larger participation of the private sector in that.
Currently, India operates 22 reactors with a total capacity of 6,780 MW in operation.
Last year in December, Minister of State in the Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh had said the share of nuclear power in the total electricity generation in the country was about 3.1 per cent in 2020-21.
“The net-zero targets are expected to be met through a combination of various clean energy sources, including nuclear power. In this context, the present nuclear power capacity of 6,780 MW is planned to be increased to 22,480 MW by 2031 on progressive completion of projects under construction and accorded sanction. More nuclear power reactors are planned in future,” Singh had said.
Replying to a question on India’s energy security, Saraswat, a former chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation said, ”Our energy security per se has improved drastically as we are not an energy starved nation any more.”
He asserted that today India is meeting all its energy demands domestically.
“As far as power generation is concerned, we are better off. We have solar power, which is almost the cheapest in the world…And the cost of setting up a solar plant has come down,” Saraswat noted.
Asked to respond to Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s allegation that the Centre is forcing states to import coal for thermal power stations, Sarasawat said these statements need scrutiny.
“Coal import is going on, in case of coastal power plants. It is cheaper for coastal power plants to import coal compared to transporting across states for example from Odisha to down south in Karnataka,” he argued.
Asserting that coal has been made available to all thermal power plants, Saraswat said, “Landlocked states which already have thermal power plants, are supplied coal even when loads have gone up.” For example, he recalled that during this summer, the loads peaked up and there was hue and cry over coal availability for power plants.
“And by working with the Railways in tandem, we were able to provide coal (to power plants across states). So managing, what is called increased demand has been done in a very efficient manner,” Saraswat said.
Recently, Rao had alleged that the BJP-led NDA government is corrupt, and the government at the Centre would be replaced and there would be inquiry on the ‘misdeeds’ such as coal import pressure on states. (Agencies)

NEW DELHI, Aug 7: The Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG for candidates, who were affected by cancellations last week owing to technical glitches, will now be conducted from August 24 to 28, according to officials of the National Testing Agency.
Fresh admit cards will be issued for these candidates, they said.
“In second phase, the exam scheduled between August 4 to 6 were deferred at few centres due to administrative and technical reasons. Earlier, we had announced the exams would be conducted from August 12-14.
“However, many candidates had approached us requesting not schedule exam on said dates as a series of festivals were falling during the period,” a senior NTA official said.
“Hence, it was decided that the exam be conducted between August 24 to 28 and fresh admit cards will be issued before the examination date,” the official added.
On Thursday, the first shift of the exam was cancelled at several centres across 17 states, while the second shift was cancelled at all 489 centres.
On Friday, the exam was cancelled at 50 centres.
Anticipating the same situation on Saturday, the agency cancelled the CUET-UG for the day at 53 centres and sent messages to candidates about its postponement on Friday night. (Agencies)

After the results of the vice presidential elections were declared on Saturday, Opposition’s Vice-Presidential candidate Margaret Alva congratulated NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar on winning the polls and said that some opposition parties chose to support BJP which damaged their credibility.

“Congratulations to Mr Dhankhar on being elected Vice President!…This election was an opportunity for the opposition to work together, to leave the past behind and build trust amongst each other. Unfortunately, some opposition parties chose to directly or indirectly support the BJP, in an attempt to derail the idea of a united opposition,” tweeted Alva. She further highlighted that the support by the opposition parties to BJP damaged credibility.

“It is my belief that by doing so, these parties and their leaders have damaged their own credibility. This election is over. The battle for protecting our Constitution, strengthening our democracy and restoring the dignity of Parliament, will continue,” she added.

Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Saturday elected as India’s new Vice President. He got 528 votes against opposition candidate Margaret Alva who got 182 votes.

Wishes poured in after the former Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Saturday elected as India’s new Vice President. Taking note of the victory, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Union minister AR Meghwal, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi congratulated Dhankar on his landslide win.

Sriharikota, Aug 7: ISRO’s maiden Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), carrying Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-02) and a student-made satellite-AzaadiSAT, lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport at 9:18 a.m.
The countdown for the launch of India’s maiden SSLV commenced at 2.26 a.m. on Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. The objective of the SSLV was to place satellites EOS-02 and AzaadiSAT into low earth orbit.
All stages of SSLV performed as expected, but suffered data loss at terminal phase of the mission, says ISRO Chief Somanath. “We are analysing the data and will come back on the the status of the satellites as well as the vehicle performance soon”, he said. (Agencies)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the seventh meeting of the Governing Council of Niti Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre in the national capital on Sunday.

This would be the first in-person meeting of the Governing Council since July 2019. The agenda of the meeting includes crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in oilseeds and pulses and agri-communities; implementation of the National Education Policy-school education; implementation of the National Education Policy-higher education; and urban governance.

In the drive toward building a steady, sustainable and inclusive India, the seventh governing council meeting of the government think tank Niti Aayog is expected to pave the way for synergies towards a new era of collaboration and cooperation between Centre and states and union territories.

As India commemorates 75 years of Independence, it is the need of the hour for the states to be agile, resilient and self-reliant and move towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ in a spirit of cooperative federalism, an official statement said.

As part of preparations for this meeting, the National Conference of Chief Secretaries was held in Dharamshala in June 2022 which was the culmination of the six-month-long rigorous exercise by the Centre and States.

The conference was chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, along with senior officials of the Central and State Governments.

The statement said that the meeting is particularly important as the country enters Amrit Kaal against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of India hosting the G20 Presidency and summit next year. The meeting would also lay emphasis on the importance of the Presidency for India for the federal system and the role that states can play in highlighting their progress at the G-20 Platform.

The governing council comprises the Prime Minister of India; Chief Ministers of all the states and union territories with the legislature; Lt Governors of other UTs; Ex-Officio Members; Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog; Full-Time Members, NITI Aayog; and Union Ministers as Special Invitees.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has boycotted the meeting.