Nuclear Power Gets Traction In India With New Plants In Pipeline
A Bloomberg report stated that NTPC and Nuclear Power Corporation of India is in advanced talks with the government to develop two 700-megwatts reactors in the central state of Madhya Pradesh
India’s largest power producer, NTPC is looking to develop another massive nuclear project just weeks after announcing its entry into the sector, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report citing people aware of the development stated that NTPC and Nuclear Power Corporation of India is in advanced talks with the government to develop two 700-megwatts reactors in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier this month, NTPC had announced that it is seeking to make its nuclear power debut with two reactors at Gorakhpur in the state of Haryana. India, at present, is building six gigawatts of nuclear capacity, the most after China, which has nearly three times that volume under construction, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an ambitious target of tripling India’s nuclear fleet over the next decade to expand the share of electricity from cleaner sources to meet its net zero goals by 2070.
In India’s current energy mix, the composition of nuclear power is just 3 per cent. 70 per cent of the electricity is generated by using coal. NTPC currently runs 92 per cent of its capacity on fossil fuels and plans to reduce that to about a half by 2032. The government has also opened up the atomic industry to state-controlled firms beyond Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. in a bid to speed adoption of nuclear energy.