Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, India is poised to leverage complete benefits from the India-US nuclear accord and the NSG waivers from EU countries to establish a robust domestic nuclear energy industry.
Nuclear energy is the fifthlargest source of electricity in India, contributing about 2 per cent of the country’s total electricity generation. India currently has over 22 nuclear reactors in seven power plants across the country.
Together, they produce 6,780 MW of nuclear power. Of these reactors, 18 are Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) and four are Light Water Reactors (LWRs).
In January 2021, the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP-3), India’s first 700 MWe unit and the biggest indigenously developed variant of the PHWR, was connected to the grid.
The Government has allowed joint ventures between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and public sector undertakings (PSUs) to enhance India’s nuclear program. NPCIL is now in joint ventures with NTPC and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
The Government is promoting the expansion of nuclear installations to other parts of the country. An upcoming nuclear power plant in Gorakhpur town in Haryana will become operational soon.India is also working on an indigenous thorium-based nuclear plant, ‘Bhavni’, which will be the first of its kind using Uranium-233.
