 Mumbai:
With the third 220 MW unit of Kaiga Atomic Power plant
all set to go critical and commercial production starting
by the end of March, India can hope to become an exporter
of nuclear power technology.
In
fact, at least two South Asian countries have approached
the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to
develop plants for them.
"The
plant will go commercial by the end of March as per schedule.
There will not be any delay in integrating the commercial
power to the southern grid as the last consignment of
critical turbine components from Ukraine is arriving on
time," S K Jain, chairman and managing director of
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, (NPCIL), said.
The
plant, located at Kaiga in Karnataka and India's 17th
nuclear power unit, which was facing delays due to non-arrival
of some critical components from Ukraine, is now well
on schedule as the parts have arrived.
The
components, shipped from Ukraine, were held up at Milan
Port in Italy. "Thanks to joint efforts made by the
Union ministry of shipping, the Shipping Corporation of
India, and the agent, the consignment is being air-lifted
to Mumbai in spite of incurring extra cost," Jain
said.
"Although
99.9 per cent of the components had arrived, we found
trans-chart difficulties for the last part of the consignment,"
the NPCIL chief said.
Jain
said NPCIL would construct eight 700 MW units and ten
1,000 MW units in the next five years.
"Construction
of these projects matches the progress made in mining
of uranium in the country, whose supply is expected to
double. By the time construction of the plants is completed
there will be sufficient fuel for them," Jain said.
NPCIL
proposes to set up plants at nine new sites, in addition
to raising the number of plants at the existing stations.
The Kaiga power station would have two more 700 MW units
in the future after government approval, Jain said.
NPCIL
will look to generate a total of 65,000 MW by 2032 as
the country's nuclear power capacity multiplies, Jain
said.
Jain
said two South Asian countries have approached NPCIL to
develop 220 MW plants and to train the personnel necessary
to man the plants. He, however, refused to name the countries.
He said the delegations had already met him and were shown
existing plants, designs, schedules, costing and safety
parts - all of which had met with their approval.
"However,
since we at present do not have sanction to export nuclear
technology we will have to wait until it is granted by
the international community," Jain added.
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