Civil Nuclear Agreement with Japan and France The details of Indias civil nuclear agreement with Japan and France are as follows: (i) The negotiations with Japan on bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement have been concluded during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister to India in December 2015, and both sides have confirmed that the agreement will be signed after the technical details are finalized, including those related to the necessary internal procedures. (ii) In pursuance of the 2008 Agreement on the Development of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy between India and France, discussions with France for setting up nuclear power plants in Jaitapur, Maharashtra have been going on to finalize the techno-commercial parameters of the project. During the visit of the French President to India in January 2016, the two sides agreed on a roadmap of cooperation to speed up discussions on the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in 2016. There are presently twenty-one (21) nuclear power reactors in the country with a total capacity of 5780 MW. A capacity of 4300 MW is at various stages of commissioning/construction. The installed nuclear power capacity is expected to reach 10080 MW by 2019 on progressive completion of the projects under commissioning/construction. Two projects with a total capacity of 3400 MW have been accorded sanction. Of these, at one project, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) 3&4 (2x1000 MW) at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu, excavation has commenced. The other project, Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojna (2X700 MW) is being readied for launch soon. Further, projects based on both indigenous technology and with foreign technical cooperation are also planned in future. The current tariffs of nuclear power plants range from 97 Paise per unit for first generation plant to 394 Paise per unit for the latest commissioned plant. The average tariff of nuclear power in the year 2014-15 was about 278 Paise per unit. The tariffs of nuclear power plants are comparable to that of contemporary plants of other electricity generating technologies in the region. This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in a reply to an unstarred question in Rajya Sabha today.
