Private sector companies can pick up a minority stake in Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCL) to know about the nuclear power generation in Indian conditions, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Anil Kakodkar has said. NPCL is the sole nuclear power producer in the country.

Kakodkar, who was here on Monday to inaugurate Bagjata mine belonging to Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (Ucil) said, ?Running a nuclear power plant is a learning process and private sector companies eager to join the nuclear race should first learn the nitty gritty of running a nuclear plant by becoming a minority stakeholder in NPCL.?

?Picking up minority stake in NPCL is possible even today,? Kakodkar said. There was no problem in the private sector getting into manufacturing of equipment required by nuclear power stations. Some companies are already into it, he said.

Citing Enron’s example, Kakodkar said had Enron been a nuclear power station, troubles would have increased manifold, as a nuclear power plant cannot be shut down once it becomes operational.

Meanwhile, Ucil’s Bagjata mine, which took three years and a capital investment of Rs 95 crore to be built, will have a 500-tonne per day output that will be transported to nearby Jadugoda for processing.

Ucil has two mills?one at Jadugoda, producing 2,090 tonne per day of uranium ore, and the other at Turamdih, which is in the process of stabilisation and will shortly be producing 3,000 tonne per day.

When asked how much uranium the country will be import immediately to run its 17 nuclear power plants, which are running at below 50% capacity, Kakodkar said the country needs to forge several tie-ups, and address issues like pricing and commercial strategy before importing uranium.

?Our first action is to increase uranium production within the country and the uranium projects going on today would help in this,? Kakodkar said.

Global uranium prices, which had shot up 15 times their normal level, have now come down, but are still 8-9 times their earlier prices.The prices of oil, gas, coal and uranium would keep rising as the whole world is moving towards an era of energy shortages, he added.