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ENERGY

the capital charge is 2.10/kWh. The (ii) Nuclear power plants accorded administrative approval and financial sanction
operating cost at 2.5 per cent of capital on which pre-project activities are in progress:
cost comes to 0.36/kWh and fuel cost
for pressurised heavy water reactor is State Location Project Capacity (MW)
0.16/kWh. The total cost is 2.62/kWh. If
we compare these with similar financ- Madhya Pradesh Chutka Chutka - 1&2 2 x 700
ing charges of solar PV with storage that Karnataka Kaiga Kaiga - 5&6 2 X 700
gives 6,000 MWh/year it will cost 2.75/
unit and cheap storage systems are yet to Rajasthan Mahi Banswara Mahi Banswara - 1&2 2 X 700
be developed. Thus, if we can install the Mahi Banswara - 3&4
nuclear plants without delay and within
budget, they are economically attrac- Haryana Gorakhpur GHAVP - 3&4 2 X 1000
tive. The decision to set up 7,000 MW of
nuclear plants makes economic sense. Tamil Nadu Kalpakkam KKNPP - 5&6 2 X 1000

ccording to the Department of
Atomic Energy, the present in- The present installed two days of talks in Washington between
A stalled nuclear power capacity foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and top
in the country comprises of 22 reactors nuclear power American officials. Besides foreign office
with a total capacity of 6780 MW. Of capacity in the country consultations, Gokhale participated in
these one reactor, RAPS-1 (100 MW) is the bilateral Strategic Security Dialogue
under extended shutdown for techno- comprises of 22 with Andrea Thompson, undersecretary
economic assessment. The nuclear reactors with a total of state for arms control and internation-
power plants contribute about 3 per cent al security.
of the total electricity generated in the capacity of 6780 MW. The two sides “committed to strength-
country. Of these one reactor, en bilateral security and civil nuclear co-
The electrical energy requirement of operation, including the establishment
the country for year 2018-19 is 1274595 RAPS-1 is under of six US nuclear power plants in India.
MUs whereas projected energy require- Ä joint statement saidthe US “reaffirmed
ment for year 2021-22 is 1566023 MUs. extended shutdown its strong support of India’s early mem-
The percentage increase in energy for assessment bership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group””.
requirement for the country till 2021- As part of the deal, the NSG granted a
2022 w.r.t. energy requirement of 2018-19 special waiver for India to access nuclear
is 22.86 per cent. This information was provided by the technology. This helped India ink nu-
Nuclear power plants are being estab- Union Minister of State (Independent clear cooperation pacts with countries
lished along with electricity generating Charge) Development of North-Eastern such as the US, France, Russia, Argentina,
plants of other technologies to meet the Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Australia, the UK, Japan and Bangladesh.
electricity requirements of the country. Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic India and the US have discussed the sup-
The details of location and capacity in Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh ply of atomic reactors for more than a
MW of the nuclear power plants being in written reply to a question in Rajya decade, but an obstacle has been the
set up are as follows: Sabha on November 21, 2019. need to bring Indian liability rules in line
It is worth men- with global norms, which require costs of
(i) Nuclear power plants under Construction: tioning that India any accident to be borne by the operator,
and the US have and not the manufacturer of a nuclear
State Location Project Capacity (MW) agreed to build plant.
six nuclear power Westinghouse has been negotiating
Gujarat Kakrapar KAPP-3&4 2 x 700
plants in India as with New Delhi to build reactors, though
Rajasthan Rawatbhata RAPP-7&8 2 X 700 part of measures progress has been slow due to India’s
to strengthen se- nuclear liability law. Despite Westing-
Haryana Gorakhpur GHAVP-1&2 2 X 700 curity and civil nu- house filing for bankruptcy in 2017,
clear cooperation, the firm has received support from US
Tamil Nadu Kudankulam KKNPP– 3&4 2 X 1000 the two nations energy secretary Rick Perry for building
said in a joint state- six reactors in Andhra Pradesh.
Tamil Nadu Kalpakkam PFBR 500 ment. The agree-
ment came after LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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