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1. An Indian Scenario on Nuclear Energy: A Comprehensive Study to Present a Case
for Nuclear Power Engineering Studies in Indian Universities
Dr.Ugur Guven1
, Gurunadh Velidi1
1
University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Department of Aerospace Engineering, India
Abstract
With the increase in power demand, India’s infrastructure is growing at tremendous speed in concordance with its growth
rate. Indian is looking to strengthen its capabilities in both economic front and industrial front. In order to overcome future
challenges, it has to sustain its energy demand with nuclear energy. This paper describes the ways to reach the future
prospective of India where nuclear energy is instrumental in strengthening both financial resources and industrial
establishment. The study on existing facilities in India to meet its future plans will be an interesting part of the paper. The
major requirements for a successful nuclear program are the availability of nuclear fuel, processing facilities, supporting
manpower, technology, equipment, as well as experts to carry out future research. By looking at the past experiences, India
is looking for facilities to create its own manpower from various universities since capable and professional nuclear
manpower is the key to success.. This paper discusses the need of the hour and how to create the ideal nuclear energy
education to meet those needs. Several important criteria such as logistics and budget for nuclear edcuation are also stated to
help the reader get an idea on what is required to successfully implement a nuclear energy program.
1. INTRODUCTION
Indian is one of the fast growing economies in the world, In order to sustain and uplift its growth and
prosperity of people, strengthening power sector with a strong power production capability is one
major aspect. Indian power sector is fifth largest in the world with total installed capacity from all the
sources of 173626 Mw; among this capacity nuclear power is around 4780 Mw [11]. The major source
to meet this power demand is coal with installed capacity of 93918 Mw which has the 54% of total
generation capacity [1]. The total percentage of power generation in India with different sources is
shown in the figure below.

2. (Source: Ministry of Power, India)
Figure I: Contribution of Different Power Sources in India
1.1 Nuclear Power Generation
Due to the fact that with growing need of industry and domestic usage a lot of capacity addition with
the nuclear energy is planned under XI plan. The total power generation capacity with nuclear power
plants which are already running in the country is shown in the table I, which indicates the growth in
nuclear power generation with high capacity factor. Due to the increasing demand for electricity, only
the sustainable energy option for Indian is nuclear energy, since great availability of nuclear resources
is an added advantage for facility development. The capacity factor of PHWR in operation is closely 80
%, which is an excellent performance that is ahead of international standards. In designing the PHWR
plant needs for indigenization, India’s own operating experience, operating experience in PHWRs
outside our country, and progressive evolution of enhanced safety features, as per the practice
internationally followed for current generation nuclear power plants [6]. A large volume of R&D has
been done in the past to provide support to the Indian PHWR programme. In support to reactor design
future protecting and operating technologies development at in house resulted in great success of
operation of these plans, which attracted great attention by other nations towards technology
cooperation.
TABLE I: Nuclear Power Generation (2006-07 to 2011-12)
Year Gross Generation
(MUs)
Capacity Factor
(%)
Availability Factor
(%)
2011(June) 7937 78 89
2010-11 26473 71 89
2009-10 18831 61 92
2008-09 14927 50 82
2007-08 16956 53 83
2008-07 18880 64 85

3. 2. Current Generation Facilities
Indian Nuclear Program was established in 1948, with a legislative bill in the parliament that lead to
creation of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The major mile stone in creating Department of
Atomic Agency is a result of efforts from AEC in 1954 [9]. It has installed facilities across the country
to meet 4% of contribution to total electricity output through nuclear energy. This has resulted in
establishing various public sector entities like Nuclear Power Corporation of India to design, construct
and operate nuclear power plants across the country. For fuel support another operational entity called
Uranium Corporation Limited was founded for mining and processing the fuel, and fuel complexes
were established to support power plants. Besides these facilities, Industrial Heavy Water Board is
responsible for facilitating light water and Heavy water. Under the responsibility of the board, many
heavy water facility plants are constructed and operating to facilitate present reactors. To install reactor
facilities, government organized company called Bhavani Ltd, is responsible for all plant installations.
The present nuclear power plants installed with BWR & PHWR that are under operation are
established by BHAVANI, and they are shown in the Table II below. All the installations are limited
with small capacity units by considering the limited size of the Indian nuclear power programme based
on PHWRs. There does not seem to be any necessity for seeking major changes in the already matured
and standardized designs of India’s 220 and 500 MWe PHWRs. The required R&D support for
currently operating and future PHWRs will however continue, although the range and volume of these
activities to be carried out at BARC is likely to progressively reduce [3]. From the very beginning,
plans for the Indian nuclear program were ambitious and envisaged covering the entire nuclear fuel
cycle. Over the years, apart from nuclear reactors, India also developed facilities for mining uranium,
fabricating fuel, manufacturing heavy water, reprocessing spent fuel to extract plutonium and, on a
somewhat limited scale, enriching uranium. Investment in this wide range of activities often was
uneconomical. But it was justified on the grounds of self-sufficiency, a theme popular in India.
TABLE II: Nuclear Power Plants under Operation
Plant Unit Type
Capacity
(MWe)
Date of
Commercial
Operation
TARAPUR Atomic Power Station 1 BWR 160 Oct 28, 1969
TARAPUR Atomic Power Station 2 BWR 160 Oct 28, 1969
TARAPUR Atomic Power Station 3 PHWR 540 Aug 18, 2006
TARAPUR Atomic Power Station 4 PHWR 540 Sep 12, 2005
RAJASTHAN Atomic Power Station 1 PHWR 100 Dec 16, 1973
RAJASTHAN Atomic Power Station 2 PHWR 200 Dec 16 1973

4. RAJASTHAN Atomic Power Station 3 PHWR 220 April 1, 1981
RAJASTHAN Atomic Power Station 4 PHWR 220 Dec 23, 2000
RAJASTHAN Atomic Power Station 5 PHWR 220 Feb 4, 2010
RAJASTHAN Atomic Power Station 6 PHWR 220 March 31, 2010
MADRAS Atomic Power Station 1 PHWR 220 Jan 27, 1984
MADRAS Atomic Power Station 2 PHWR 220 March 21, 1986
KAIGA Generation Station 1 PHWR 220 Nov 16, 2000
KAIGA Generation Station 2 PHWR 220 March 16, 2000
KAIGA Generation Station 3 PHWR 220 May 6, 2007
KAIGA Generation Station 4 PHWR 220 Jan 20, 2011
NARORA Atomic Power Station 1 PHWR 220 Jan 1, 1992
NARORA Atomic Power Station 2 PHWR 220 July 1, 1992
KAKRAPAR Atomic Power Station 1 PHWR 220 May 6, 1993
KAKRAPAR Atomic Power Station 2 PHWR 220 Sep 1, 1995
(Source: Indian Nuclear Facilities, IAEA)
3. Technology Developments
India started its research and development activities with Bhabha Atomic Research organization
(BARC), which is initiative of Department of Atomic Agency (DAE) in 1954. In the initial days
research was carried out only in this facility. For conducting special research on breeder reactors, there
was an initiative to open Breeder reactors research facility in 1971 [4]. This center carried out research
in broad based multidisciplinary program of scientific and advanced engineering directed towards the
development of Fast Breeder Reactor technology. Fast Breeder Reactor which was based on unique
mixed Plutonium Uranium Carbide fuel was the first of its kind in the world which was itself a great
achievement to India. Now, India is working on designing 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor,
which is under construction, since the design stage is completed [2]. To ensure safety precautions in
facilities development, operation and research, an independent body named as Atomic Energy
Regulatory Body (AERB) has been established in 1983.
3.1 Thorium – India’s Priority
Utilization of a Thorium in a large scale for development of nuclear power plants and technology
remains as an important goal for of India. This is especially important due to its security in terms of
reserves; since India has six times larger reserves than any country. Closed nuclear fuel cycles, which
involves reprocessing and recycle of fissile materials is thus inevitable for India and that too can be
done in a relatively shorter time frame than most of the other industrialized countries. A three stage
nuclear energy program based on closed cycle is already a plan in Indian atomic programs. Stage one is
planned for developing natural uranium fuelled Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors; the second stage is
planned for utilizing plutonium based fuels with fast breeder reactors. The third stage contains

5. development of advanced nuclear power systems for utilization of thorium [2]. In this program, India
has successfully started PHWR plants with uranium based cycle operation. In fact, at present, twelve
such reactors are under operation, and four are under construction.
In the second stage of expansion, India started with the FBTR, Fast Breeder Test Reactor at IGCAR,
Kalpakam. This reactor design is based on mixed uranium and plutonium carbide fuels It has yielded
into large volume of operating experience and has resulted in future research for developing many
other technologies like corrosion protection layers [7]. In fact, much future research material has
resulted due to this research reactor’s operation. This has enabled India to design 500 Mwe, prototype
fast breeder reactor, which converts plutonium into fissile material form for supporting PHWR
reactors.
In third stage of Indian nuclear power development program, the major interest is towards thorium
based technology development. Considerable thorium irradiation experience has been acquired with the
past research reactors. Also India has introduced limited amount of thorium into PHWRs. There is the
KAMINI reactor in IGCAR, the only currently operating reactor in the world based on thorium cycle;
as this reactor uses 233
U as a fuel. Initially it will be bred and processed indigenously. With these efforts
and experiences, the next plan is to extend this experience to bigger scale reactors. India is now
designing and developing advanced nuclear systems, which will utilize plutonium resources to
maximize conversion of thorium into 233
U and also extraction of direct power from breeder reactors.
Besides this, another area that India’s nuclear policy is focusing on is the development of the Advanced
Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) [10]. This program also directly supports India’s thorium based
technology development. Reprocessing and refabrication of fuel plays an important role in AHWR
operation, as it will also open a way to utilize thorium resources in a full scale.
In Thorium reactors technology development, India has experience with BARC initiatives on inception
of thorium bundles into PHWRs. This has caused the development of technologies based upon flux
flattering, design, construction and operation based upon 233
U. This has lead to development of
PURNIMA and KAMINI reactors, and large volume of research activities are carried forward with
these systems. India has also developed fuel cycle technology for thorium reactors which has lead
Indian to become one of the top ranking countries in the world in thorium utilization, for continuing
future research large scale developments in the laboratory is aimed to develop commercial reactor
technologies [3].

6. 3.3 External Inputs
The external cooperation to India started with British Atomic Program in June 1954 to help India build
a low power research reactor. Later, they provided design support and enriched uranium for a
swimming pool reactor [10]. With these milestones, India started with cooperation of various countries
like Russia, France and England, Apsara reactor in 1956 August and CIRUS, which is the second
reactor to be set up was 40 megawatt (MW) output were heavy water moderated, light water cooled,
natural uranium fueled reactor using the same design as the Canadian NRX reactor [12], with
cooperation of Canada. In the development of CIRUS reactor, India also used help from USA for
supplying heavy water needs for the reactor. After this reactor design, India was able to develop its
commercial reactor facilities TAPS I & II and also RAPS I & II which were successful in their
installation.
Likewise, it was an American firm, Vitro International, which was awarded the contract to prepare
blueprints for the first reprocessing plant at Trombay. The plant was used to separate plutonium from
the spent fuel rods irradiated at the CIRUS reactor; the plutonium was then used in India’s first nuclear
weapons test of 1974. Between 1955 and 1974, 1,104 Indian scientists were sent to various U.S.
facilities; 263 were trained at Canadian facilities prior to 1971. However still at this day, India is
accessing many international facilities in its Research and Development activates with the help of
Canada, USA and Russia [12]. With the new international developments on the scene, India is signing
several treaties on the usage of nuclear power. In fact, the last treaty signed with South Korea in August
2011 paves the way for transference of know-how, personnel and technology for making more
advanced nuclear reactors in India. According to American Nuclear Society, India is expected to build
28 more reactors in the next 10-15 years.
4. FUTURE SCOPE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY IN INDIA
India is adding 4800 Mw capacity through its plants which are under construction. However, it is too
low in compared with the future plans of DAE, adding 25% of power capacity to India through nuclear
power. The details of nuclear power plants which are under construction and their expected operation
period are mentioned in the Table III below, which describes full capacity of operation that is possible
by 2016. Furthermore, India has sufficient reserves of uranium and thorium reserves such that India has
1,47,898 tones of uranium reserves estimated by The Ministry Of Science And Technology, Earth
Sciences Division. U.S geological survey describes that India has the world’s largest reserves of

7. thorium on the magnitude of 360000 tones (which is easily enough to power India for the next 500
years) [12]. In order to use these natural strengths in the fields, India needs to plan long term programs,
which will result in large capacity installations and also technological inventions. India also needs to
look for developing manpower with the help of conventional university degree programs, as well as
certified professionals training other than HBNI, Homi Bhabha National Institute and BARC. Since
from the past experience, it is known that creating manpower towards IT sector attracted a great
attention of the world towards India. With the same format, we can design university programs to
bridge the gap in terms of manpower for Nuclear Industry.
TABLE III: Nuclear Power Plants under Construction
Project Capacity (MWe)
Expected Commercial
Operation
KUNANKULAM Atomic
Power Project
2 Х 1000
Unit I- Aug 2011
Unit II-May 2011
RAJASTHAN Atomic
Power Project
2 Х 700
Unit 7-Jun 2016
Unit 8-Dec 2016
KAKARPUR Atomic
Power Project
2 Х 700
Unit 3-Jun 2015
Unit 4-Dec 2015
(Source: Indian Nuclear Facilities, IAEA)
4.1 Nuclear Manpower Needs for India
Nuclear Energy Programs need lot of man power for its success; India needs trained professionals for
construction, design and for operation of these nuclear power plants. For construction of twin reactor
power station requires 1000 personals in various levels. Moreover, for annual plant operations, we
require more than 800 trained professionals [5]. India needs to look for opening of various programs at
various levels from trained professionals with certification courses to master’s level diplomas, since it
will strengthen the future of Indian Initiatives.
Furthermore, the need for trained nuclear engineering professionals is also paramount on areas such as
non destructive testing techniques for civil structures, utilization of nuclear methods for diagnostics and
treatments in nuclear hospitals and utilization of nuclear methods in creating strengthened materials for
advanced crafts. In addition, a properly trained nuclear engineer can also work in various government,
research and military organizations or he can also work as a consultant to the power industry since
similar thermodynamic principles are applied in thermal power plants.

8. 5.0 PLANNING A UNIVERSITY PROGRAM TO MEET INDIA’S
CHALLENGES
The real question arises on how to match India’s future requirements of nuclear energy to its ability to
create the necessary expert manpower that is required to meet those conditions. Many countries have
made national programs which have encompassed the help of both the government sector as well as the
private sector in preparing the required professionals for the task ahead [12]. Especially in a growing
country like India, the need for more power must be matched with a need for more specialized
engineers who can meet this demand. Thus, in order to do this effectively, the planning a proper
university department of nuclear engineering is paramount for successful implementation of nuclear
energy for India’s future.
The effective planning of a new nuclear engineering department for a private university entails
planning the curriculum, planning for the type of students to be admitted, planning for the nuclear labs
that need to be present, as well as planning for the educational materials such as books and software
that will be needed. This cannot be done, unless proper planning and budgeting is done before hand.
This white paper explores these items in detail, so that logistical planning can be made.
Naturally, the selection of the academic curriculum is also important in determining the correct
structure for such a department. Information is available about the curriculum followed in USA as well
as in Europe, so these curriculums can easily be adopted by a new entrant. Some sample nuclear
engineering curriculums are provided at the end of this paper in the appendix. With appropriate use of
qualified faculty, a comprehensive but competitive syllabus can be executed with success. The main
problem with creating a nuclear program lies in the planning of the nuclear laboratories that need to be
created.
6. NUCLEAR LABORATORY PLANNING
One of the most important pillars for an education in nuclear engineering would be the laboratory work
that students will need to undergo. Without doing sole lab work, it is not possible for the nuclear
engineering student to understand many of the nuclear and the thermal processes that make up the
workings of a nuclear power plant [8]. However, it is not possible to combine all of the laboratories in
to a single lab as the type of experiments that need to be performed is quite diverse. Hence, it is
essential to create separate labs that can teach different aspects of nuclear engineering to students. Of
course, it is assumed that the nuclear engineering student has already been exposed to introductory

9. physics and chemistry experiments before coming to this stage. Hence, the type of labs required for the
advance stage includes:
Nuclear Physics Labs
Nuclear Engineering Labs (Radioactive Handling of Materials)
Thermal Engineering Labs (Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer)
Most universities would already have thermal engineering labs with basic thermodynamics and heat
transfer setups, so this would not be a major cost factor in nuclear laboratory planning. However, the
creation of a nuclear physics lab and a nuclear engineering lab would be mandatory for crating
professional nuclear engineers who have an understanding of the primary nuclear engineering
techniques.
6.1 Nuclear Physics Lab
Nuclear Physics Lab is the most primal lab in which where the necessary experiments can be done to
allow the nuclear engineering student to understand the basics of nuclear processes. Luckily, most of
the devices that are required are also lab equipment that needs to be present in any university that has
some sort of a physics education. Some of the more vital equipment that has to be present in a nuclear
physics lab is:
Personal dosimeters to monitor radiation exposure of students as well as to learn the basics of
radiation shielding and safety. Moreover, the student can also understand how the radiation
causes exposure using their dosimeters. Of course, one dosimeter per each student needs to be
issued and these dosimeters range in $ 80 to $180 range per dosimeter [8].
Geiger Muller counters to detect as well as to quantify the radiation that is being radiated from
any source. Digital type of Geiger Mueller counters can be used, as they are versatile and they
are also suitable for a wide range of experiments. These Geiger Muller counters range in the
range of $ 200 to $ 360 per counter depending upon quality and its precision. Normally, one
Geiger Muller counter per 3 students will be enough to perform most nuclear physics
experiments. Hence, the cost of the Geiger Muller counters can be calculated by dividing the
number of students by three and then by calculating this with the base price of GM counter.
Scintillation detectors are needed for various nuclear physics experiments in which the students
can see the interaction between photons as well as other forms of radiation. A good scintillation
detector can be in the range of $1000 or more and as a rule of thumb one scintillation detector

10. for every 10 students is the correct way to calculate the total expense that would be required for
the nuclear physics lab.
Very simple radioactive source for radiation detection and measurement experiments. The
simple one that can be used would be Cobalt 60, which is the same material that is used in all of
the medical labs and in the radiology departments of hospitals all over the world. While the
material is radioactive, it is not fissile material, so it is not inherently dangerous, as long as
some basic safety techniques are utilized.
6.2 Nuclear Engineering Lab
A nuclear engineering lab is a much more complex entity, as it would involve more advanced
experiments, which would necessitate the use of fissile materials as well as neutrons. All of these can
be very penetrating materials and thus special care is needed in handling them. In addition, there are
two important problems, which are associated with a nuclear engineering lab.
The first thing that is a detriment is the fact that unlike a nuclear physics lab, a nuclear engineering lab
would be very expensive. Equipments such as neutron generator as well as fissile material are not
cheap and thus it would preclude spending by small to mid size universities. Depending upon the type
of equipment chosen, it can run up to several hundred thousand dollars and the continued usage of the
lab would also generate considerable expense every month.
The second detriment would be the fact that there would be a need to obtain licenses as well as special
permits from the government’s appropriate nuclear agencies. The time, the bureaucracy as well as the
expense of obtaining these permits would also be a difficult task. However, for an institution that is
thinking long term in terms of nuclear energy, it would be possible.
Fortunately, for private institutions, there are several other alternatives to establishing a nuclear
engineering lab. For example, in India, the best way would be to get help from agencies such as BARC.
This way, the facilities of BARC as well as University of Delhi can be used for a period of two weeks
in which the students would perform several nuclear engineering experiments to learn the necessary
skills. In fact, several private institutions in the Southern parts of India have also started investing in
these types of labs, so some sort of MOU can be done with them as well. As another alternative, several
private institutions can come together to establish a nuclear engineering lab in which all of their
students would benefit.

11. Of course, with proper communication, it is also possible to hook up with several other universities
across the world that is willing to provide their facilities for foreign students. Several institutions in
India have already utilized this with success. There are several facilities in Switzerland, Canada, Japan,
and Korea that are open to these types of MOU and they can easily be utilized to provide the necessary
education to the nuclear engineering students. As per the cost of such an arrangement, it can be pre-
calculated by the finance department, so that necessary costs can be included in the student’s tuition fee
as well. Also several student financing schemes can also be applied through the help of the university
as well. Hence, the best recommendation would be to outsource the nuclear engineering lab to
government or other private installations for keeping the cost of opening this department, as low as
possible.
7. FACULTY REQUIREMENTS
Some other criteria that are needed for nuclear engineering education include proper experts who can
be employed by the Department of Nuclear Engineering. Basically, you need experts in nuclear physics
as well as nuclear engineering and power plant engineering in the department, in order to give the
necessary courses present in the nuclear engineering education curriculum.
In the beginning, a single nuclear physicist and a single nuclear engineering faculty can be hired to
keep the costs down to the minimum. Of course, in time, the nuclear engineering department will need
to be designed in such a way, so that there can be a room for expansion. As for some specialized
courses, these can be outsourced to the guest faculty who can come and teach that course for a short
period of time. Eminent speakers and experts from India as well as all across the world can be invited
for speaking and for sharing their experiences.
In fact, many institutions abroad are amicable to sharing knowledge and expertise in certain areas of
nuclear engineering and an appropriate exchange program of nuclear faculty can also be implemented
in the future. The faculty who is recruited should sign up for longer periods of time, since nuclear
engineering education requires more continuity as compared to other type of engineering branches. In
addition, for the above MOUs and other procedures to be implemented, it is essential to have the same
faculty who can follow up with their own contacts, as well as with their own personal research.
Presenting papers by faculty in nuclear platforms, conferences and summits all across the world would
be a great way to share information, as well as to look for avenues of cooperation and expansion to a
newly formed nuclear engineering department.

12. For best results, the nuclear engineering faculty who is to be recruited must have a PhD in a relevant
nuclear subject. Expertise as well as experience is an important matter for the successful launching of a
nuclear engineering program. A good nuclear faculty can be recruited from outside India at $ 3500 to
$ 7000 / month or retired specialists in India from BARC can be employed as faculty. Naturally,
salaries above 1 Lakh must be given to these faculties who can be recruited after retirement from
relevant Indian institutions. As stated above, in the beginning, a minimum of three faculties with three
different core specializations must be recruited in order to form a nuclear engineering department. But,
the nuclear engineering specialization will be the most important of them all for successful
implementation.
8. STUDY MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS
8.1 Nuclear Engineering Textbooks and Reference Material
In order to effectively pursue nuclear engineering in a newly formed nuclear engineering department, it
is essential to have the necessary study materials for the faculty as well as for the engineering students.
There are many special books related to the nuclear field written by specialists in nuclear engineering
such as Lamarsh or Murray, which are available from reputable publishers such as McGraw Hill.
Whether the faculty chooses to use these books as textbook is irrelevant, as these special books such as
Nuclear Reactor Theory, Nuclear Reactor Engineering as well as Nuclear Engineering Handbook need
to be available at hand as reference to the students studying in the university.
Since most of these books will not be available in Indian print, it is essential to acquire them from
outside, so that they can be available in the library. At least 1 copy of each book should be put in the
reference section and several copies of popular nuclear engineering textbooks need to be acquired in
order to be available to the students in the checkout section. These books range from $ 140 to $ 290
and they can be obtained easily through the internet or through a system of local publishers. Of course,
this is a onetime expense, as many of these books can serve for decades due to their high quality
binding and printing.
In addition, the field of nuclear energy is an ever-changing field. It is essential to subscribe to two or
three main journals in the field, since both the faculty as well as the students will need to keep up with
the latest advancements. These advancements can be paramount in creating a professional engineer
who is at the cutting edge of nuclear technology. Most of these journals are Springer journals, so they
are well priced. Thus, with annual subscription prices ranging from $ 1400 to $ 2500; it would be

13. advisable to subscribe to at least two reputable nuclear energy journals. One can be from Springer’s
impressive set of nuclear journals, while the other can be one of the journals published by the American
Nuclear Society (ANS).
8.2 Software and Computational Material for Nuclear Engineering
Just like many other branches of engineering, nuclear engineering has also become quite fond of
utilizing computational software for nuclear analysis. In fact, there are many educational software
which allow nuclear students to be acquainted with nuclear processes and experiments without actually
using a nuclear experimentation set. In the long run, these type of software will help nuclear
engineering students to learn the necessary skills, without exposing them to any risk of radiation with
fissile material.
In addition, several other non-nuclear software is also used in computations of nuclear processes.
Naturally, MATLAB is one of them, as it is used for many different calculations such as the calculation
of the exponential growth of neutrons in the nuclear reactor. In addition, several CFD software such as
Comsol has been used to formulate and simulate the cooling process of a nuclear reactor. Naturally,
these software need to be acquired and overall cost would be around $ 2500 to $ 7,000 depending upon
the number of users chosen.
9.0 PLACEMENT AND INTERNSHIPS
It is essential for a newly formed nuclear department to create the necessary background for placement
and internships. Especially in India, this can be a competitive asset. However, it needs to be understood
that nuclear engineers do not just work at nuclear power plants. They also work in various defense
institutions, research institutions as well as in the industry.
Especially in the construction and production sector, the need for a nuclear specialist in non destructive
testing techniques is paramount. Through nuclear non destructive testing techniques, it is possible to
test the integrity of a road, a building, a bridge or a semiconductor. Thus, even abroad many nuclear
engineers are hired to work on these types of environments to test structures and products with nuclear
methods. Naturally, in many hospitals all across the world, radiology departments also get help from
nuclear engineers in testing as well as calibration of isotope radiation production systems such as those
used in advanced diagnostics as well as in cancer treatment.

14. Of course, at the same time, it must be understood that the number of nuclear power plants is expected
to flourish in many large scale developing countries such as China and India. In 20 to 30 years, both
countries need to expand their energy production output in order to keep up with the projected growth
rates that are required for their large populations. Hence, it is expected that hundreds of nuclear
engineers will be needed in the next decade and much more than that in the following decades. In the
beginning, a tie up with government nuclear agencies can be used for internship purposes to allow the
students to get exposure to a professional nuclear environment. Then depending upon their area of
interest, they can be geared toward industry, military, power production or research sector during their
last year of education. Of course, some students (% 5 to % 15) will also choose to go to higher studies
in another university or abroad, so need for placement will not exist for them.
10. OVERALL COST
As it can be seen in the various above sections of this paper, the cost for opening a new nuclear
department would consist mainly of laboratory expenses, book expenses, specialized faculty expenses,
as well as material expenses. The other costs would be practically the same as opening any new branch
of engineering division in a university.
It can be said overall that by outsourcing one of the required labs (nuclear engineering lab) and by
creating the rest (nuclear physics lab, thermodynamics & heat transfer lab); the costs can be minimized.
With careful selection of books, software and study materials and with employment of only two
specialized faculty; the overall costs would be somewhere around $ 50,000 to $75,000. The cost can
vary on the size of the department, as well as on the initial goals that are set by the university.
If a student pays an average of $ 4000 per year (as it is the case in this university with 2 laks / year
charge), then it can be said that with only 12 students in the first year, the initial costs would be covered
in the first year. Since, most of these costs are to be done only once, any extra year would cover
overhead costs as well as bring profit to the university. For example, in a BTech program, a minimum
of 20 students could easily finance everything and bring profit with only a single batch of 4 years. In an
M.Tech program with 7 to 10 students, the overall cost would be financed in the 2 years of the first
batch of students, while the second batch would make the university get into the profit range.
Of course, it needs to be stated that it is not just about profit, but also about prestige. This is especially
important for universities that deal specifically in the energy domain. Naturally, renewable energy as
well as fossil fuel energy will remain to be important in the short term and midterm; but it must be

15. remembered that it is only nuclear energy which can meet the ever rising global energy demand for
electricity. Since 1970, even though the electricity production has tripled, still the demand for more
electricity continues to grow. Hence, these types of departments can also help raise the necessary man
power for the ever-growing nuclear sector all across the world. However, it is imperative that this is
done with a vision in order to succeed with these micro and macro goals.
11. Conclusion
For a country like India with large population, long term energy security with indigenous resources
causes a strategic need to grow economically in the world. There are several dimensions to sustainable
development of energy resources including not only economic, technological and political; but also
global, environmental, ecological and social factors. These considerations will dictate the optimum
composition of the required energy mix, in different time frames in future. As time passes, the actual
composition of the mix will be subject to variation with changes in technological and geopolitical
environment. Research and Development in the nuclear field is at the cutting edge, and nuclear
technology is necessarily based on long term programs to achieve better results. India has to look
forward to strengthen indigenous technology with available resources; as this will create a stature to the
country to compete with the developed nations.
A strong indigenous R&D infrastructure, including trained scientific and engineering manpower needs
to be developed to a large extent, in order to help India in reaching further milestones towards the goal
of large scale deployment of thorium as a sustainable energy resource for India. To reach this goal and
to have competent expert professionals, universities will need to play their part in creating the required
professionals for all the industrial, governmental and scientific sectors which employ nuclear
professionals. It is hoped that this paper will serve as a guideline for creating nuclear engineering
departments for Indian universities in the future.
12. Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies for their unwavering support.
In addition, world universities with nuclear departments such as ITU, HUT, UOT are thanked
exclusively for their support in sharing their experiences. Moreover, we would like to acknowledge the
help of Prof. Dr Murat Aydin and Prof. Dr. Akif Atalay for their past contributions in the conceptual
analysis. Also, the parents of Gurunadh, Mr. V G V Subrahamanyam, and V S V L Kameswari are
thanked extensively for their support in higher education.

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