India To Build Nuclear Power Plants In "Fleet Mode" From 2023

Tags: Science and Technology

The Government of India plans to start construction of ten 'fleet mode' nuclear reactors over the next three years, with the first pour of concrete for a 700 MW atomic power station in Karnataka's Kaiga slated for 2023.

Under the fleet mode, a nuclear power plant is anticipated to be built over a period of five years from the first pour of concrete(FPC).

• The first pour of concrete (FPC) marks the beginning of construction of nuclear power reactors from the pre-project stage which includes excavation activities at the project site.

• The officials of the Department of Atomic Energy informed the Parliamentary panel on science and technology that the “ FPC of Kaiga units 5&6 is expected in 2023; FPC of Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Praiyonjan units 3 & 4 and Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Projects units 1 to 4 is expected in 2024; and that of Chutka Madhya Pradesh Atomic Power Project units 1 & 2 in 2025”.

• The Centre had approved construction of 10 indigenously developed pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR) of 700 MW each in June 2017. The ten PHWRs will be built at a cost of Rs 1.05 lakh crore.

• The PHWRs, which use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as moderator, have emerged as the mainstay of India’s nuclear power programme.

• India’s first pair of PHWRs of 220 MW each were set up at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan in the 1960s with Canadian support.

• As many as 14 PHWRS of 220 MW each with standardized design and improved safety measures were built by India over the years.  Indian engineers further improvised the design to increase the power generation capacity to 540 MWe, and two such reactors were made operational at Tarapur in Maharashtra.

For additional information on Nuclear power, kindly see the 24 March 2022 post.