Kakodkar: India all set to achieve N-power target
Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, February 18
Despite the current economic recession, India is well on course to surpass the production target of 20,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020, the Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar said here today.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has started work on four 700 MW nuclear power plants for which the Central Government has given approval in principle, Kakodkar said.

He was talking to the media on the sidelines of a three-day international conference on “Characterisation and Quality Control of Nuclear Fuels” organised by the Nuclear Fuel Complex.

The plans were also on to set up another four 700 MW nuclear plants and fast breeder reactors. Each megawatt of nuclear power will cost about Rs 6 crore.

"We also will go in for some light water reactors that have a capacity of over 1,000 MW each. We are in discussion with prospective vendors for constructing the light water plants and hope that very soon we will be able to actualise these projects," the top nuclear scientist said.

The Union Government, he said, gave in-principle approval for the development of sites at Jaithapur and Kudankulam. The initial work in this regard was also on.

The AEC chief said the private sector could also be allowed into nuclear power business provided they had "prior experience in Indian conditions."

"It is important that whoever enters into nuclear power business must have prior experience in Indian conditions. It is unlike other businesses because in nuclear business you have to run the facility whether or not you produce power. We have to ensure that there is control on nuclear materials and so there are demands on such entities," Kakodkar said.

The Atomic Energy Act clearly specifies that nuclear energy business could be carried out by a government company in which the Centre has a 51 per cent stake. The Act also enabled both government and private entities to participate within this framework, the AEC chairman said.

The NPCIL has the necessary capability to execute the new projects and deliver them within the specific time-frame and budget. The Corporation had recently signed an MoU with NTPC for power generation and was also talking to others, he said.

Pointing out that there is a growing energy demand in India, he said the energy should be clean and should not contribute to any green house gas emissions. “There are several drivers for growth of nuclear energy in India. This could in fact be one way of getting out of the economic slowdown problem,” Kakodkar said.