10 more atomic reactors okayed to boost N-power
In a boost to the country’s nuclear power production, the Centre on Wednesday cleared the proposal to build 10 atomic reactors indigenously, that are expected to ensure orders worth `70,000 crores for domestic industry.
The Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) will be developed by the department of atomic energy and will have an individual capacity of 700 MW each. The Union Cabinet cleared the proposal at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It also approved a new coal linkage policy under which fuel supply to the power sector will be either through the auction route or power purchase pact via competitive bidding of tariffs.
The move may ease stress on account of nonavailability of linkages to power sector projects. India now has installed nuclear power capacity of 6,780 MW from 22 operational plants.
Another 6,700 MW of nuclear power is expected to be added by 2021-22, when under-construction projects go onstream in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
In a boost to the country’s nuclear power production, the Centre on Wednesday cleared the proposal to build 10 atomic reactors indigenously, that are expected to ensure orders worth `70,000 crores for domestic industry.
Another 6,700 MW of nuclear power is expected to be added by 2021-22, when under-construction projects go on stream in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
The 10 reactors will be at Mahi Banswara (Rajasthan), Chutka (Madhya Pradesh), Kaiga (Karnataka) and Gorakhpur (Haryana). “As the government marks three years of its nation-and-people-centric governance, in a first-of-itskind project for India’s nuclear power sector, the 10 new units will come up in fleet mode as a fully homegrown initiative,” an official statement said. The building of these reactors indigenously is likely to ensure manufacturing orders worth about `70,000 crores for domestic companies. Also, the project is expected to help transform India’s nuclear industry and generate over 33,400 jobs in direct and indirect employment, minister of state Piyush Goyal told reporters.