The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 1st August 2024

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 1st August 2024 is an effective tool for regularly learning new words and their contextual meanings. Candidates can get this resource for free to improve their vocabulary knowledge preparing for government exams.

Hindu Editorial Vocab On Small Modular Reactor Plan

The Indian government is planning to team up with the private sector to study and test small modular (consisting of separate parts that, when combined, form a complete whole) reactors (SMRs). Nuclear energy is an important power source in the world’s energy mix as it waits for the development and maturation of (other) renewable energy technologies while fossil-fuel-based sources, especially coal, continue to remain relevant (connected with what is happening or being discussed) and more affordable. Nuclear power offers a sufficiently high and sustainable power output, even if externalised costs like those of building safe and reliable (someone or something that is reliable can be trusted or believed because he, she, or it works or behaves well in the way you expect) reactors and handling spent nuclear fuel complicate this calculus. Indeed, cost and time estimates that expand to nearly twice as much as at the point of a project’s commissioning are not unheard of. The nuclear power tariff is thus higher from ‘younger’ facilities, even if they also fill gaps that haunt power from renewable sources. SMRs, of 10 MWe-300 MWe each, are smaller versions of their conventional (following the usual practices of the past) counterparts. They aspire to be safer without compromising (causing damage to the reputation of someone) commercial feasibility by leveraging the higher energy content of nuclear fuel, a modular design, a smaller operational surface area, and lower capital costs. But the challenge is to have this aspiration survive SMRs’ external costs.

The government’s privatisation of nuclear power generation will also increase the demand for regulatory safeguards against radioactive material being diverted (to cause something or someone to change direction) for military use. The first-generation SMRs are expected to use low-enriched uranium in facilities assembled on-site with factory-made parts, to produce waste that can be handled using existing technologies and power that can be sold at economical rates. But the reactor will need frequent refuelling and will yield a consequential (happening as a result of something) amount of plutonium; both outcomes will stress proliferation resistance. The IAEA has touted the use of ‘safeguardable’ reactor designs but such solutions will increase capital costs. Subsequent SMR generations may also require more enriched uranium, especially if their feasibility is pegged on longer periods of continuous generation, or more sophisticated (intelligent or made in a complicated way and therefore able to do complicated tasks) systems to increase fuel-use efficiency, which would increase the operational surface area and the generation cost. In fact, nuclear reactors have a fixed baseline cost and safety expectations that do not change with energy output, which means SMR-based tariffs need not automatically be lower. This is why the Department of Atomic Energy increased its reactors’ capacity from 220 MW to 700 MW. SMRs’ ability to bolster the prospects of nuclear power in India will thus depend on their commercial viability — and in turn on the availability of less uncertain market conditions, stable (firmly fixed or not likely to move or change) grids, and opportunities to mass-produce parts — and the price of proliferation resistance (the act of fighting against something that is attacking you, or refusing to accept something).

Hindu Vocab Wordlist 1st August 2024

Upskill yourself and enhance your vocabulary knowledge. Candidates should begin learning new words daily with Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 1st August 2024.

• Modular: Consisting of separate parts that, when combined, form a complete whole.
• Relevant: Connected with what is happening or being discussed.
• Reliable: Someone or something that is reliable can be trusted or believed because he, she, or it works or behaves well in the way you expect.
• Conventional: Following the usual practices of the past.
• Compromising: Causing damage to the reputation of someone.
• Diverted: To cause something or someone to change direction.
• Consequential: Happening as a result of something.
• Sophisticated: Intelligent or made in a complicated way and therefore able to do complicated tasks.
• Stable: Firmly fixed or not likely to move or change.
• Resistance: The act of fighting against something that is attacking you, or refusing to accept something.

Hindu Vocab Master 1st August with Synonyms & Antonyms

Know synonyms and antonyms of difficult words in Hindu Vocab Master on 1st August 2024.

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