June 19, 2012

National Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) said it has identified four new sites in the country for setting up indigenously-designed Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) with a potential to generate up to 2,800 MW of nuclear power.

These indigenously-designed PHWRs shall come up in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, for which, land acquisition work and pre-project activities are on, he said.

The site in Haryana is at Kumbariya near Fatehabad district and Banswada in Rajasthan. The two sites in Madhya Pradesh include one at Chutka in Mandla district and another at Bheempur. Clearances for these projects are expected within a couple of years.

NPCIL is hopeful of adding 2,500 MW of nuclear power in the country over the next one year with the completion of its projects at Kudankulam and Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, taking its installed capacity to over 7,200 MW.