15 Aug (NucNet): India’s installed nuclear power capacity is expected to rise from 6,780 MW to 22,480 MW by 2031, an increase of 15,700 MW (gross), the department of atomic energy told parliament.
This expansion is expected to come through the addition of nine nuclear power reactors with a cumulative capacity of 6,700 MW by 2025, and 12 more reactors with a cumulative capacity of 9,000 MW by 2031, the DAE said.
The nine reactors expected to become commercially operational by 2024 are under various phases of construction, the DEA said. However, according to International Atomic Energy Agency figures, there are seven units currently under construction.
The 12 additional nuclear reactors were “accorded administrative approval and financial sanction by the government in June 2017”, the DAE said.
The DAE has been indicating since 2008 that it would like to expand the country's nuclear power capacity to 63,000 MW by 2032. India mentioned this target in its climate action pledges submitted to the United Nations three years ago during global negotiations to curb climate change.
But senior officials at the Nuclear Power Corporation, the public-sector company that builds and operates the country's nuclear plants, signalled in 2015 that the 63,000 MW target would be lowered.
In June 2018 GE and French state-controlled utility EDF agreed to form a partnership to build six EPR units for a nuclear power project in western India.
Once fully commissioned, the Jaitapur project will be the largest nuclear power station in the world with an installed capacity of around 9,900 MW.
India is planning to increase its nuclear share of electricity production from around 3% today to 25% in 2050, minister of state Jitendra Singh told the country’s parliament in a written statement in March.
