India plans to build eight 700-MW nuclear plants

The country plans to build eight 700-MW nuclear plants to boost its nuclear power generation capacity to about 10,000 MW and is stepping up exploration to uncover new uranium mines, a top Atomic Energy Commission official has said.

At present the country has a nuclear power generation capacity of 4,000 MW but its nuclear reactors are facing a crunch in uranium, which is used as fuels for power generation. Existing plants are now operating of only around 50 per cent of its capacity due to the lack of fuels.

With the known sources of uranium, the country could generate only around 10,000 MW, the official said, adding that the emphasis is now on expanding the uranium inventory by opening new mines and mineral processing, so that the current shortage could be overcome.

"With new mines getting ready and quantity of uranium produced being increased, we have a plan to go for eight new generation 700-MW reactors, for which the design is ready. We will start construction soon and are just awaiting for the fuel linkage," Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Srikumar Banerjee, said here in an interview.

He said eight reactors of 700 MW would add a capacity of 5,600 MW, taking the overall figure to 9,600 MW.