N-power units okayed at Kakrapar, Rawatbhata, Kudankulam, Jaitapur

The government has informed Parliament that it had accorded in principle approval for sites for locating nuclear power plants at Kakrapar (2 X 700 MWe) in Gujarat and Rawatbhata (2 X 700 MWe) in Rajasthan.

In written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan said that, similarly, in principle approval had been accorded for sites at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and Jaitapur in Maharashtra for setting up light water reactors through imports.

He said more nuclear plants at additional sites were also planned but detailed not yet been finalised.

Mr Chavan said that, out of the country's total installed nuclear power capacity of 4120 MWe, 320 MWe was based on light water reactors and the remaining was based on heavy water reactors.

According to him, the tariffs of nuclear power are competitive with that of coal fired thermal power stations at locations away from coal mines. In addition, nuclear power is clean and environment friendly, as it has no Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, he said.

The minister said the installed capacity was expected to reach 7280 MWe progressively by the year 2011 by completion of projects under construction. More reactors, both of indigenous designs and based on international co-operation, are planned to increase the nuclear power capacity, he added.

In a separate reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) planned to enhance its capabilities for manufacture and supply of nuclear reactor components like steam generator for higher size reactors (1000 MWe and more).

He said BHEL was also planning to manufacture nuclear turbines of 700 MWe and above ratings.

The minister said BHEL had already manufactured and supplied some nuclear reactor components like Steam Generators, Reactor Headers and Nuclear Turbine Generator Sets to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) for its 220 MWe and 540 MWe reactors.

In March this year, BHEL was awarded a contract for the manufacture of Steam Generators for 700 MWe reactors, he said.

Mr Deshmukh said BHEL had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NPCIL to form a joint venture company to carry out engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities on the secondary side (turbine side) of nuclear power plants of 700 MWe and above rating within India and abroad.

Further, BHEL is holding discussions with international technology providers for 700 MWe and above nuclear turbines. The extent of gaining access to the new technologies would depend upon the negotiations in this regard, he said.

According to him, BHEL is actively making efforts to associate with nuclear reactor vendors like GE-Hitachi (USA), Areva (France), Westinghouse (USA) and Atomstroyexport (Russia) for possible cooperation to manufacture the components of higher size reactors. An MoU has been signed between BHEL and GE-Hitachi (USA) for cooperation in this area, he added.

NNN