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International Conference on EcoBalance Selected Abstracts
Nuclear Power Programme of India A Model Case of Eco-balance and Life-Cyde Mana ge me n t
Umesh C. Mishra
Former Director, Health, Safety & Environment Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai-400 085, India ([email protected])
Goal and Scope. India has embarked on a long-term programme of producing electricity from nuclear power plants (NPPs). Unlike most countries, India has chosen a three-stage programme to fully exploit energy content of nuclear fuels, thereby ensuring most efficient life- cycle management. Ecological considerations are given a very high place to ensure that ecological degradation does not occur as a result of power-plant operation at every nuclear site in India. Bio-diversity is also maintained and every site is one of the greenest sites in the region and is thus a model site as regards eco-balance.
Methods. Uranium and thorium present in the earth's crust are excellent sources of energy. They do not have many other applica- tions which are as attractive. Most countries have utilized only uranium for this application. India is the only country which has a three-stage programme of utilizing both so as to get maximum en- ergy from these elements. In the first stage, natural uranium reac- tors are being constructed which produce electricity. As a by-prod- uct, plutonium is also produced. This is proposed to be used in fast breeder reactors in the second stage. In such reactors, thorium will be used for breeding uranium-233. This material will be used in the third-stage power reactors as fuel. India chose this path as it has large reserves of thorium. Even in the current, first-stage reac- tors, thorium is put as a blanket which gives some uranium-233. This approach enables taking maximum energy out of both ura- nium and thorium and hence is a very good example of LCM.
Results and Conclusions. The data will be presented to show that a closed nuclear fuel cycle programme is best suited for electricity production and presents a good example of the use of natural re- sources, while minimizing waste generation, and is extremely eco- friendly. Very small amounts of greenhouse gases are produced if the entire fuel cycle is considered. Nuclear power plants do not produce GHGs, but other components give some contribution.
Recommendations and outlook. In order to meet the growing de- mands of electricity in developing countries, nuclear energy offers a very attractive alternative and should be exploited in a bigger way than at present.
Keywords: Nuclear power; environmental management; LCM optimisation; GHG reduction
Life Cycle Assessment Study at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, India
Soni, R. Sr ipiya, P.V.T R a o and O . N . M o h a n t y
R&D Division, Tata Steel, Jamshedpur-831007, India
Corresponding author: Soni ([email protected])
Goal and Scope. In India, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has initiated a project to carry out the life cycle assess- ment of the steel sector. Three major integrated steel plants of In- dia are participating in this study and Tata Steel is one of the three steel plants taking part in the study. The main purpose of the study is to identify the best practices in the industry and to provide a benchmark to the Indian steel industry by creating a database, which would encourage other steel plants to adopt better practices and improve their productivity.
The study is a 'cradle to gate' study where raw material mining has been defined as the cradle and continuous casting as the gate. The main objective of the study is to find out the pollution load per tonne of steel produced and identify the problematic areas, which have to be dealt with.
Methods. The LCA study was initiated at Tata Steel in the year 1997-98 and since then it has been carried out each year to evalu- ate the environmental performance and to find out the environ- mental impact of various process improvements. The various steps involved in carrying out the study are 1) Preparation of the system boundary 2) Data collection and validation 3) Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) preparation and its interpretation and 4) Impact assessment
Results and Conclusions. The study over the period of three years shows the improvement trend in the environmental performance of Tata Steel as a result of various process improvements, which would be discussed in details in the paper. The high coke rate in the blast furnaces has been identified as a major reason for high coal consump- tion. The causes for the high coke rate have been discussed at length in
�9 this paper. The process gases, which are generated in excess needs to be fully utilized in order to bring down the energy consumption and fully utilize the energy input to the plant. Recycling of wastes is found to improve the overall performance of the plant considerably.
Recommendations and Outlook. The production of steel involves various process stages and this study analyses each of the processes to identify the areas of improvement and in turn improve the plant performance. The CO 2 consumption has to be brought down by us- ing less coal and recycling all the carbon values of the solid, liquid and gaseous by-products, which to a certain extent remain unused due to various constraints. The study clearly shows that the improve- ment in the environmental performance of the plant has a positive effect on the bottom line of the company. LCA study can be effec- tively utilised to identify enablers for process improvements and to assess the environmental consequences of potential process changes.
Keywords: LCA; environmental performance; steel; life cycle in- ventory; impact assessment
Environmental Impact Assessment and its Minimisation in a Refinery Using Life Cycle Impact Analysis Approach A m i t D u t t a l, A. K. Diksh iO, S. R a y z and M. B a n d y o p a d h y a y 1
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India
2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India
Corresponding author: A. K. Dikshit ([email protected])
Goal and Scope. Petroleum refineries are strong contributors to the global and local economy and supply a major part of energy for development of the world. The environmental pollution due to large industrial activity like petroleum refining, which deteriorate ecology and environment, is a global issue. Throughout the world, the refining industry has been facing considerable economic pres- sures arising from a number of factors including compliance with new safety and environmental regulations since the past decade. Pollution control and regulatory authorities impose specific stan- dard limits for the individual pollutant emission concentration and the rate of discharge. Such an approach does not consider the com- bined effect of all the pollutants and therefore the net environmen- tal effect of operation of the industry cannot be assessed. For the
Int J LCA 7 (3) 2002 1 8 5
