Sunday 12 June 2016

Too cheap to meter ..... Too costly too!

We have heard a phrase "Too cheap to meter" many times. It was wrongly attributed to Nuclear power by its enthusiastic supporters in the beginning and is often being used by its opponents to deride it. Now the truth has come out that such a statement was never made by anybody for the nuclear power in particular.


A large number of nuclear power stations were set up in USA and European countries in the initial couple of decades with the promise of cheap power, then the programme tapered off due to many reasons, cost competitiveness of fossil fuel also among them. Now renewable sources like Wind power and Solar power are preferred choices, though they are still too costly.


We have another paradoxical situation in rural India. The electrical power is given to pumping sets on wells dug in the fields spread over vast areas and to the hamlets or farmhouses situated far away from towns. It is not economical for the staff to regularly visit each place for reading meters. There are other reasons preventing them to do so. In addition the power to farming sector is highly subsidized due to political reasons. Electricity bills are sometimes waived. Then there are unauthorized connections. As a result of these factors a lot of power is not accounted for. 'Too cheap' for the users! However, it is cross subsidized at the cost of regular consumers and becomes 'Too costly' for them. Still it is not as costly as not to have it at all. So another catchy slogan "No power is costlier than No-power." 
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"Too cheap to meter"
We​​ ​might ​have heard this phrase often, and may have even come across some explanations about it and its origins.
Nevertheless I found this article by US NRC​,​ interesting and informative​.​​​
Too Cheap to Meter”: A History of the Phrase​, June 3, 2016 by Thomas Wellock​, Historian
​[ https://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/ ]​

Some other links on this topic are:
http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2009/09/too-cheap-to-meter-nuclear-quote-debate.html
https://cns-snc.ca/media/media/toocheap/toocheap.html
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HISTORIC QUOTES.
In the late 1950s, similar feverish calculations were made by Dr Bhabha to establish that nuclear power could be way cheaper than coal (at that time carbon print was still not on print).
During his speech at the inauguration of a reactor, Pt. Nehru made some mild references to such calculations, 'calculating and recalculating to make nuclear power cheap', as I recall,  after which Dr Bhabha changed to 'No power is costlier than no power'
In gross contrast, another PM, Morarji Desai, embarrassed everybody at his guest speech at the Training School graduation function, by asking ' what has nuclear power done to the farmers', making, I am told, some promising graduates to leave for other prospects!
There was euphoria in1960s, with DAE at the back, about abundance of energy from sea water by Fusion Process!

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Rajasthan govt had given huge amount of land for establishing RAPP and DAE had perhaps promised electricity too cheap to meter. When we wanted to collect our dues from RSEB the Chairman RSEB reminded us about it. I am not sure whether we were ever able to collect our full dues for electricity supplied .I had heard it personally it and am stating from my memory which may have deteriorated over a long period of time.
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Just common sense would say Fusion should always prevail over Fission. Fusion of thoughts leads to love and progress. Fission leads to all negative tendencies. So, the emphasis should have been always on Fusion !
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The first impressions about both animate as well inanimate objects are often misleading, the experience teaches us so.
     So is the case with the Atomic Power, starting from the point of " too cheap to ...." to "impossible to meet the economically viable range".
   I came across a similar case while setting up the Uran ONGC project. It was well known that there is acute shortage of soft water in this region, so the plant was initially designed with sea water cooling system, considered available at zero cost at the coast. Many NPPs are also designed with sea water cooling systems. But when basic designs n costing were done, using suitable exotic  materials, jetties for the intake n discharge  to the sea, it was difficult to reconcile the cost escalations n new sources of soft water were developed.
 Back to square one
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I had never thought the Infamous American speech- ‘ Too Cheap to Meter' originally made in 1954 by the then Chairman USAEC Dr. Lewis Strauss to American Scientific Writers Association in New York, was used to justify RAPP-1 installation?

There was no nuclear power plant yet built in USA or in the world in 1954. It is quite likely therefore, the speech was in context to the Fusion technology, under active research in USA, but being classified in nature, L Strauss had not mentioned fusion either. But certainly, it was not fission.

It shows one should be clever or clear in mind, when arguing on the basis of hearsay for or against a conceptual project.
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The actual statements as reported on the above mentioned links are as follows: These appear general optimistic predictions. nothing more!

"Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter," he declared.   ...    "It is not too much to expect that our children will know of great periodic regional famines in the world only as matters of history, will travel effortlessly over the seas and under them and through the air with a minimum of danger and at great speeds, and will experience a lifespan far longer than ours, as disease yields and man comes to understand what causes him to age."
  Lewis L. Strauss
  Speech to the National Association of Science Writers, New York City, September 16th, 1954
  [New York Times, September 17, 1954]
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Lewis L. Strauss, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, recently said:
"It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter; will know of great periodic regional famines in the world only as matters of history; will travel effortlessly over the seas and under them and through the air with a minimum of danger and at great speeds, and will experience a lifespan far longer than ours, as disease yields and man comes to understand what causes him to age. This is the forecast of an age of peace."
  [New York Times, August 7, 1955]
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On the Function
 The civil engineers had many mock trials on the direction and structure of the shamiana, expecting heavy wind forces, in the open ground.. Still , on that eventful day, when Pt.Nehru was at his eloquent best, on the CIRUS DOME being a symbol of our new temple, the shamiana tore to pieces with the wind and the great and much embarrassed Dr.Bhabha on the stage jumped from his seat and tried to hold the flying pieces together!
We used to joke as to how many heads rolled the next day!
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Another proof that common sense is not so common & is a misnomer.
   I can relate my own similar experience when PM Indira Gandhi visited RAPP-1 in 1970 or 71, I expressly informed our site photographer to be present. But the guy did not turn up that very day & at this remote place no replacement was possible. I had no option but to hang the camera around my neck n go around with the VIPs as a photographer. I can't forget that experience
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