Chennai, Jan 11 (IANS) India will hold technical discussions with France and the US for sourcing reactors, said a senior Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) official Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a nuclear safety conference, S.A. Bhardwaj, director (Technical) at NPCIL, said: ‘We are studying the report of French regulators on their reactors post Fukushima. We will again have detailed technical discussions with the French vendor (Areva) that is offering 1,650 MW reactors.’
NPCIL is planning to put up the Areva reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.
According to Bhardwaj, the company is talking with two US vendors for sourcing four light water reactors – two from each.
Stating that many Indian states have shown interest in housing nuclear power plants, he said the government has approved two locations in Madhya Pradesh, one each in Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal.
He said NPCIL is looking at Madhya Pradesh and Haryana now to put up 700 MW units there.
According to Bhardwaj, India’s prototype fast breeder reactor coming up at Kalpakkam is expected to go critical in couple of years time though the construction work will be over this year.
He said commissioning of the PFBR has to be done cautiously as it is first of its kind in the country and it will be a long-drawn process.
As to the two more fast reactors that is being planned, Bhardwaj said they would come once the PFBR goes on stream.
Meanwhile officials of NPCIL said the next round of talks between the central experts committee and the Tamil Nadu government panel to clear the air about the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) is slated for Jan 31 at Tirunelveli district.
