India: an emerging nuclear giant

After having recalled that India has always been interested in nuclear energy, this article outlines that this country is suffering from an increasing air pollution with noticeable impacts on health (thousands of deaths per year due to pollution), and, even though its CO₂ emissions have very much increased during the past decades, its governments want to rely on nuclear energy to face climatic challenges. The article also outlines that the country is facing increasing energy needs when about 300 millions of inhabitants do not have access to electricity. New sources of energy production must then be developed, preferably de-carbonated sources (hydraulic, wind, nuclear, solar, so on). Therefore, progress must be made to reduce the share of fossil energy. The author proposes a brief presentation of the Indian nuclear programme, with its 20 existing reactors and 6 reactors under construction. A strategy has been defined to exploit as many PWRs as possible, to introduce fourth generation reactors, and to use a thorium fuelled reactor. The framework of the French-Indian partnership is briefly presented, and the involvements of AREVA for the construction of six EPRs, and of the CEA for the development of fourth generation reactors are evoked