No private role in N-power for now

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Nuclear energy to meet rising needs, says PM

New Delhi, Sep 7: The government is in “no hurry” to allow private sector participation in setting up nuclear power projects in the country. It would attempt to utilise the capacity of public sector power companies to develop nuclear power stations first, before attempting to open up the sector for private companies. Minister of state for power, Jairam Ramesh, told FE: “The government has no immediate plans (for private sector participation) on this front. We are in no hurry and this is not what our priority is at the moment. The country’s first priority is to bring the existing nuclear power stations to run at full capacity.”

This means state-owned companies, including NTPC and Bhel, will be the ones, along with the existing monopoly nuclear power generator, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), that will contribute in a big way to India’s nuclear power generation programme. To permit private sector companies to enter the domain, the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 will have to be amended as it allows only those companies with a 51% government stake to enter the sector.

In the domestic private sector, while a host of companies like Tata Power, Reliance Power, L&T, Jindal Steel are also looking at appropriate tie-ups for an entry into equipment supply as well as undertake engineering, maintenance & repair services, they will have to await the legislative change to have a peep in.

“We should look at tying up fuel supplies at the earliest from countries like Australia, Canada and South Africa. With appropriate fuel supply contracts in place, we can easily get another 2,000 MW of our existing nuclear capacity operational in the next three to four months,” Jairam said. Of the total nuclear installed capacity of 4,000 MW, only 45% capacity or 1950 MW is currently operational. With the entry of India into the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), he said the plans to have six nuclear reactors of 1,000 MW each would also soon become a reality.

In addition, India’s largest generation company, NTPC, has also chalked out plans to set up two 1,000 MW nuclear power plants before the end of 12th plan, ie before 2017.