The joint venture of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and NTPC is likely to put up 700 Mw of pressurised heavy-water-based nuclear power plant at Bargi in Madhya Pradesh or Kunharia in Haryana — the two sites shortlisted by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
“One of the sites identified by DAE for 2x700-Mw plant will go to the NPCIL-NTPC joint venture company,” DAE Secretary Srikumar Banerjee told reporters on the sidelines of the India Energy Congress here today.
NPCIL and NTPC had entered into an agreement in February last year to start a joint venture company that would build nuclear power plants. NPCIL plans to build indigenously-developed Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 700 Mw capacity each at four locations in the country. While two plants each are expected to come up at Rawat Bhata in Rajasthan and Kakrapar in Gujarat, sites in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have been finalised for atomic power plants.
NPCIL and NTPC will have a 51:49 shareholding ratio in the venture, with NTPC expected to invest around Rs 1,000 crore. Banerjee said baseline surveys were being carried out at the locations in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana to assess the impact of putting up the nuclear power plants. Land acquisition process will begin once the surveys are over.
Besides the two locations, DAE has also begun work on five energy parks located at Haripur in West Bengal, Mithi Virdi in Gujarat, Jaitapur in Maharashtra, Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh and Kudaamkulam in Tamil Nadu. The country plans to have an installed capacity of 35,000 Mw by 2020 and 60,000 Mw by 2032. The current installed nuclear capacity is expected to reach 6,780 Mw.