Projects Today reported that the Indian government is planning to set up two coastal nuclear power projects in the Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, in collaboration with US based nuclear firms, in order to give impetus to the expansion of country's power generation capacity.

The report added that it has identified two sites, one at Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh and another at Chhayamithi Virdi in Gujarat for setting up the reactors.

The union cabinet has already accorded in principle approval for these projects proposed to be developed on co-operation with the USA, in line with the Indo-US 123 N deal, signed last year.

At present, discussions are on with US companies for setting up these nuclear power plants. Since, coastal regions are ideal for setting up nuclear power projects with 1000 MW or higher capacity and these requires abundant water supply for cooling of reactors. Lower cost of transport of heavy equipment via sea route also adds to the viability of the project.

(Sourced from projectstoday.com)