India Plans 10,000 MW Nuclear Plant as New Projects Connect to Grid

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) (Bombay) has granted environmental clearance for four 700 MW pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) and has launched preparatory work for the development of a 10,000 MW nuclear power project in Maharashtra state.

Groundwork for the projects, two at Kakrapar in Gujarat and two in Rawatbhta in Rajastan, will begin this year said the Chairman and Managing Director of NPCIL, S.K. Jain. He added that a total of eight PHWR units of 700 MW had been planned and sites for the remaining four would be selected from a basket of centers.

Jain said that there were plans to build three more fast breeder reactors (FBRs) to add to the existing units and two of them would be sited at Kalpakkam where a 500 MW prototype FBR is under construction and is due to be commissioned in 2010. For related news item see March 13, 2007 – India’s Nuclear Plans Involve Investment of $13.6 Billion in Domestic Technology.

The NPCIL’s seventeenth reactor, at Kaiga nuclear power station in Karnataka, went critical in March and will feed power into the national grid in the near future. Jian also said that moves were being made to commission two nuclear power units at the Koodangukam project in Tamil Nadu within a year. He said that the corporation, a state nuclear monopoly, had sufficient uranium for 10,000 MW. There had been a delay in opening new mines but the production of uranium would double this year with new mines starting to contribute.

The 10,000 MW nuclear power station will consist of six 1,650 MW units. The $11.4 billion project will use European pressurized reactors (EPRs), which are being used to develop nuclear power projects with high capacities. EPRs are based on pressurized water reactor technology. The reactors will be sourced from France, Germany and Finland. The corporation will contribute 30% equity for the project and 70% will be raised through various ways, including multilateral loans.

Jain told the Financial Express that he hoped the successful completion of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal would allow construction on the project to start in 2008 at Jaitapur in the Ratnagiri district, which is one of four sites already cleared for nuclear power projects.

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