BL reported that plans to scale up India's nuclear capacity nearly ten fold over the next decade has got underway, with the Centre according in principle approval to over 38,000 MW electrical of new reactor capacity.
Imported Light Water Reactor units ranging from 1,000 MW to 1,650 M from Russia, France and the US would make for over 80% of the envisaged capacity, with indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors of 700MW accounting for the rest.
A government official said that "The units are planned to be constructed with a gestation period of about six years from the first pour of concrete to commercial operation. The plan is to start work on the first set of twin units at these sites by 2012."
Site clearances, including primary environmental clearance, have been received for the second phase of the Koodankulam project (four additional Russian ‘VVER' series of reactors) and the Jaitapur site (in Maharashtra), where French nuclear major Areva NP would set up its EPR reactor units.
State owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited had initially set itself a target of achieving a total installed capacity of 20,000 MWe by 2020.
According to officials, this could go up to 40,000 MW if the LWR program gains momentum, with Toshiba Westinghouse's AP1000 series of reactors, GE Hitachi's ABWR reactor series, Areva's 1,650 MWe European Pressurized Reactors and the Russian ‘VVER' reactors set to be deployed at the earmarked sites. The current installed nuclear capacity is 4,120 MWe.
Besides the units that have bagged clearances, four 700 MWe indigenous PHWRs are already under construction at Kakrapar in Gujarat (KAPP-3 and 4) and Rawatbhata in Rajasthan (RAPP-7 and 8), while two 1,000 MW reactors are coming up at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu through Russian assistance.
Russia has cashed in on its first mover advantage in the nascent Indian nuclear market by moving ahead with plans for additional units at the Koodankulam site, where it is in advanced stages of commissioning the first phase of the same project consisting of two ‘VVER-1000' units of 1,000 MWe each. It has also got a Greenfield site in West Bengal for fresh capacity of 6,000 MW.
France has also begun the process of setting up its maiden project at the Jaitapur site. The Americans are still waiting in the wings, though the Government has indicated its willingness to earmark two sites to US reactor manufacturers. The demand by the US companies for capping of accident liabilities and lack of consensus at a bilateral level on enrichment and reprocessing rights for future fuel supplies are holding up the entry of American players.
(Sourced from www.thehindubusinessline.com)
