will russia turn saviour for iran

20th aug, Hindu Op ed

·         Russia making efforts to revive talks(p5+germany) on irans nuclear program

·         Lavrov plan Calls for a step by step approach to resolve nuclear problem

·         Iran should be rewarded for every step it makes to clarify questions about its nuclear program

·         US and its allies have called for stopping of enrichment by iran which russia doesn’t support

·         Last year russia supported UN sanction on russia and stalled its S 300 missile sale to iran

·         Both share common views on afghan , west asia and north africa

·          US is committed to dual track of pressure and engagement

·         The recent attacks on libya and mounting pressure on libya has escelated threats against iran

·         Russia is aiming to avoid any large scale war in west asia and improv ties with iran

·         However there is no hopes of immediate breakthrough as bost sides have stuck to their stance

o   Western antions expect rian to stop its enrichment while iran expects the west to cancel all sanctions and recognise its right to enrichemnt of uranium

Russia stands by its reactors

·         Russia has 16 reactors which genrate 16% of its power

·         Russia has one of the youngest reactors inw orld with avg age of 19 yrs comapred to

o   US-30Yrs

o   Europe-26 yrs

o   Japan’s fukishima- 40 yrs!!!

·         Following the chernobyl 1986 accident, russia has put in place many passive safety systems ie safety features that ddon’t require manual interventions

·         Russia is building VVER 1000 reactors at kudankulam in India

·         It is also going to build some in haripur, WB

·         Russia has 50% share in global export of reactors

·         Russia recently signed agreement with belarus to build 2400 MW plant at grondo

·         Russia has also plans to 1200 MW reactors in turkey

o   Rus offered lifelong guarantee of reactors to turkey

·         VVER features

o   They are basically Pressurised water reactors

o   Water is used as both moderator and coolant

o   Fuel is low enriched Uranium

o   Can genrate 440 Mwe to 1200 Mwe

§  Currently russia is providing to kudankulam 2 1000 MW and plans to provide 4 1200 MW reactors

o   Safety features

§  Core catcher at base of reactor to trap molten fuel and rpevent it from flowing into soil

§  Advanced cooling system

confronting fears of radioactivity

1.       Lessons from fukishima nuclear crisis

·         Criteria for locating reactors in disaster prone areas should be made stringent

·         Sturdy and multiple layers of backup systems must be put in place

·         Venting out of radioactive gases in caSE of over pressurisation of reactor must be tackled

·         Greater transparency from nuclear stablishment across the world to build trust among people abt nuclear energy

Long time learning from fukishima

There is not much information of significance from prelims point of view. So i am listing out only key facts

 

·         India lies between zone 2,3,4,5

·         Zone 5: punjab, himalayas, north east India, kutch

·         Zone 4: dellhi. Indo-gangetic plain, Jammu, bihar

·         India and iceland are working on seismic earthquake anticipation and preparedness

Way ahead

·         Transparent safety audit of nuclear reactors

·         Re-assess engineering and architectural design of our infrastructure

Nuclear radiation-AIR special

download link: http://www.newsonair.com/writereaddata/archive/Science-Technology-Feature-199-2832011143052.mp3