Nuclear plants shut down for want of fuel: NPCIL
Monday, October 22, 2007 : 0945 Hrs
Mumbai, (PTI): Five of the 17 nuclear power plants in the country had been shut down and the remaining are operating at an average of less than 50 per cent capacity for want of fuel, a top official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited said.
Two units at Narora atomic power plant in Uttar Pradesh are shut down for annual maintenance work, while the newly commissioned Kaiga unit 3 in Karnataka and one unit of Kalpakkam atomic power plant near Chennai are facing closure for want of fuel, Chairman and Managing Director of NPCIL, S K Jain, said.
Two units of Rajasthan Atomic Power plants are shut down as feeder pipe replacement is taking place, Jain said adding, all these may get started immediately as there was a mismatch of uranium fuel in the country.
Rest of the 12 plants which had an established 95 per cent capacity are now running between 50-70 per cent making the average capacity of nuclear power production in the country less than 50 per cent, he said.
The Nuclear Fuel Complex Chief Executive, R N Jairaj, said his company was able to make use of only 30 per cent of the total capacity and is being under-utilised due to the "mismatch" of fuel.
The fuel "mismatch" situation has started affecting the performance of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).
Currently operating nuclear power stations with a capacity of around 4,000 MWe, NPCIL has been forced to slash power production levels.
Asked why it is called mismatch of fuel and not shortage of fuel, Jain said, India has uranium reserve but is not explored and exploited in the way it should have been.
"For the last four years, a high-level council has been working to look into enhancing uranium production in the country and Atomic Mineral Division Council has conducted studies as to how to triple the production," he said, adding Prime Minister himself oversees the progress.
The mismatch has been created due to NPCIL's demonstration to the World that it could have the power plant capacity up to 95 per cent and also its demonstration of reducing the gestation period of construction from 10 years to four and a half to five years, according to Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) sources.
Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) will invest roughly Rs 31 billion (USD 679 million) to open new mines and set up processing plants in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya.
UCIL chairman and managing director Ramendra Gupta said UCIL is investing Rs 6.5 billion (USD 142 million) in Jharkhand alone.
In addition, UCIL is exploring uranium deposits in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Karnataka, sources said.
An investment of Rs 18 billion (US$ 393 million) is proposed for setting up two uranium mining and milling plants in Nalgonda and Kadapa districts in Andhra Pradesh.
Jain said NPCIL is going ahead with the commissioning of two more pressurised heavy water reactors -- the fifth unit of Rajasthan Atomic Power plant and Kaiga 4 -- and both have undergone hydro test and ready for receiving fuel.
Both the units are expected to be commissioned by the end of this year or early next year.
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